I am not a biologist but the recent reports of bat die offs as reported by the New York Times on March 25 sound very familiar to the Colony Collapse Disorder of bees. They both may be related to poor nutrition during hibernation.
The New York Times recently carried the die off of bats in NY, VT, and MA: http://www.nytimes.com/... A researcher interviewed by the Times speculated that the bats were not getting enough nutrition that created the brown fat to enable the bats to last through the winter.
And from Brit Amos at Global Research on how GMO may cause the CCD in bees: http://www.globalresearch.ca/... A quote from the article:
When the flower pollen becomes genetically modified or sterile, the bees will potentially go malnourished and die of illness due to the lack of nutrients and the interruption of the digestive capacity of what they feed on through the summer and over the winter hibernation process.
More from the NYTimes article:
Dr. Thomas H. Kunz, a biology professor at Boston University, said the body composition of the bats would also be studied, partly to determine the ratio of white to brown fat. Of particular interest is the brown fat between the shoulder blades, known to assist the bats in warming up when they begin to leave deep hibernation in April.
"It appears the white nose bats do not have enough fat, either brown or white, to arouse," Dr. Kunz said. "They’re dying in situ and do not have the ability to arouse from their deep torpor."
While I have read a number of different reasons for the CCD, I really don't know much about GMO so when it is suggested as a possible culprit in CCD, I don't know what to make of it. More from the Global Research article on bees and GMO crops:
The genetic modification of the plant leads to the concurrent genetic modification of the flower pollen. When the flower pollen becomes genetically modified or sterile, the bees will potentially go malnourished and die of illness due to the lack of nutrients and the interruption of the digestive capacity of what they feed on through the summer and over the winter hibernation process.
To this non biologist, there seems to be some similarity suggested in the reasons for the die offs for the bats and bees. I'd be interested in any input from people with a background in this area.