Cave surveys over the winter have found a steep decline in the three most common species of bats in Tennessee.
Surveyors found fewer little brown bats, northern long-eared bats and tricolored bats due to the fungal disease white-nose syndrome.
Tennessee Cave Program for the Nature Conservancy Director Cory Holliday said caves that used to shelter thousands of hibernating little brown bats now appear to have none.
Biologists say the impacts of the disease appear to be similar to those already seen in northeastern states, where entire bat populations have been wiped out.
