As a result, conditions inside both chambers may be more energetically stressful than can be predicted based upon temperature alone. Regardless of why some mortality occurred in the Nilotinib in vivo control groups, the lack of difference in mortality between the control and treatment groups exposed to.500 conidia should not be interpreted to mean that bats in these treatments did not have WNS. To the contrary, bats in all inoculation treatment groups at both temperatures exhibited significantly shorter torpor bouts than controls, a key sign of WNS. The reduction in torpor bout length demonstrates that bats in all inoculation treatments developed one of the hallmarks of WNS and would exhaust their energy reserves in a longer hibernation period, unlike bats in the control group that had normal torpor bout lengths, but our results show this mortality would occur after bats exposed to a smaller number of conidia early during hibernation. It is important to note that we did not use histopathologic criteria to confirm WNS in bats in our experiment, and assumed that Pd inoculation was the cause of the increased frequency of arousals and increased mortality compared to control bats, an assumption that is strongly supported by recent research. At the northern edge of their range, little brown myotis are reported to hibernate for two months longer than the duration of our experiment. Thus, the ability of free-ranging bats to survive exposure to Pd must be considered in the context of winter duration and hibernaculum temperature. Our model predicts that little brown myotis with greater body condition indices inhabiting the regions of North America where the hibernation period lasts approximately 5 months will be able to persist in Pd-contaminated hibernacula, provided bats have access to cold roosting microclimates. Although the maximum winter duration little brown myotis can survive with Pd is uncertain, hibernacula temperatures below those included our study may confer even greater survival benefits. Variables relating to the environment, host, and pathogen interact to produce disease. Our study presents WNS survival and mortality within the context of the disease triangle, showing that little brown myotis females, and individuals of both sexes with higher body condition, are more resilient to Pd, and that cold hibernacula further increase individual odds of survival. These results suggest a scenario in which little brown myotis may continue to persist in the affected region of North America, with selection favoring individuals with large fat reserves and preference for cold hibernation sites. Because our study was conducted with naı¨ve individuals under controlled conditions, however, additional research on survival in free-ranging populations, and the possible role of the immune system in pathology or resistance, are needed to better understand the fate of little brown myotis and other cavehibernating species in eastern North America. Despite many research and sanitary efforts, tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest human infectious diseases far from being defeated. The poor knowledge of the biology of its causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a main obstacle toward the development of improved control strategies.