There has been a lot of bad news about the White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) epidemic which is attacking bats across the nation, leading to the closing of access to many caves. I came across an article by Tom Volk with most of the presently known details about Geomyces destructans, currently felt to be the cause of WNS. Where it came from and how it leads to the death of bats remains unknown. He points out that although the evidence is strong, it isn't complete yet.
Lots more details and pictures are at http://tomvolkfungi.net/ if you click on the Geomyces destructans button."Koch's postulates have not yet been fulfilled, so it has not been strictly proven that Geomyces destructans causes death in bats. The histopathology has been well documented, and it is very clear that this fungus is the causal agent of white-nose syndrome cutaneous infection. So far, the correlation between the presence of the fungus and bat death is quite substantial, but cause has not yet been proven."
Tom Volk’s Fungi is an academic web site with information on many advanced aspects of mycology. Not all is heavy science and I, and maybe you, can lose a lot of time browsing it. I will be posting his writings on Holiday Fungi as the seasons come around. Robert Anderson describes the site in further detail in Natural History Magazine. To quote him:
His entry for April of 2008, Profollias downhoki, is billed as the missing link between fungi and plants. Surprisingly, this fungus, the first known to photosynthesize, was discovered in the moist pouches of kangaroos.Volk himself is a direct beneficiary of a fungus: having had a heart transplant, he has been protected from rejection of the new organ by cyclosporine. That is an immunosuppressant derived from the from the Cordyceps subsessilis, which is the June 2006 fungus of the month.
