scholarly journals Dispersal and Land Cover Contribute to Pseudorabies Virus Exposure in Invasive Wild Pigs

EcoHealth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe A. Hernández ◽  
Amanda N. Carr ◽  
Michael P. Milleson ◽  
Hunter R. Merrill ◽  
Michael L. Avery ◽  
...  

AbstractWe investigated the landscape epidemiology of a globally distributed mammal, the wild pig (Sus scrofa), in Florida (U.S.), where it is considered an invasive species and reservoir to pathogens that impact the health of people, domestic animals, and wildlife. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that two commonly cited factors in disease transmission, connectivity among populations and abundant resources, would increase the likelihood of exposure to both pseudorabies virus (PrV) and Brucella spp. (bacterial agent of brucellosis) in wild pigs across the Kissimmee Valley of Florida. Using DNA from 348 wild pigs and sera from 320 individuals at 24 sites, we employed population genetic techniques to infer individual dispersal, and an Akaike information criterion framework to compare candidate logistic regression models that incorporated both dispersal and land cover composition. Our findings suggested that recent dispersal conferred higher odds of exposure to PrV, but not Brucella spp., among wild pigs throughout the Kissimmee Valley region. Odds of exposure also increased in association with agriculture and open canopy pine, prairie, and scrub habitats, likely because of highly localized resources within those land cover types. Because the effect of open canopy on PrV exposure reversed when agricultural cover was available, we suggest that small-scale resource distribution may be more important than overall resource abundance. Our results underscore the importance of studying and managing disease dynamics through multiple processes and spatial scales, particularly for non-native pathogens that threaten wildlife conservation, economy, and public health.

Pathogens ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1044
Author(s):  
Mousumi Bora ◽  
Durlav Prasad Bora ◽  
Mohan Manu ◽  
Nagendra Nath Barman ◽  
Lakshya Jyoti Dutta ◽  
...  

African swine fever (ASF) is one of the most important transboundary diseases of pigs. ASF has been identified in India for the first time in domestic pigs from outbreaks reported in two of the northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in 2020. A total of 11 ASF outbreaks in different regions killed over 3700 pigs and devastated the economy of small-scale livestock owners of both the states. Considering the first outbreak of ASF in India, a generic risk assessment framework was determined to identify potential risk factors that might favor future emergence of the disease. Based on the Indian scenario, we considered population density of host, farming practice, availability of biological vectors and wildlife reservoirs, epidemiological cycles, and international trade to analyze the possibility of future outbreaks of ASF and chances of establishment of endemism. On critical analysis of the identified risk factors associated with ASFV transmission, we observed that the risk factors are well preserved in the Indian geography and might participate in future outbreaks, further disseminating the disease to nearby countries. Since no vaccine is currently available against ASF, the domestic and the wild pigs (wild boars and the endangered pygmy hogs native to India) of this region are under constant threat of infection. For the near future, this region will have to continue to rely on the implementation of preventive measures to avoid the devastating losses that outbreaks can cause. The various adaptive control strategies to minimize the risks associated with the transmission of ASF, keeping our views to Indian settings, have been described. The risk-analysis framework presented in the study will give a further understanding of the dynamics of disease transmission and will help to design control strategies and corresponding measures to minimize the catastrophic consequences of ASF disease.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Truong ◽  
Hong Nguyen ◽  
Akihiko Kondoh

The upstream Dong Nai River Basin is located in the country’s key economic development region and its water resources are a key component of sustainable regional development. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of land use and land cover changes (LULCC) on the flow regime in this tropical forest basin using a flow–duration curve analysis that has been widely used in Japan. This study combined two different temporal and spatial scales of satellite data, Landsat and Global Inventory Modeling, and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to analyze LUCC. Results from the land cover classification of five Landsat images between 1973 and 2014 indicated that the forest area decreased significantly in the period of 1994 to 2005 due to population growth, leading to land conversion for agriculture. Furthermore, secular changes in the annual GIMMS-NDVI data revealed that land cover changes occurred from 1996 and a large amount of forest was lost in 1999; however, due to the rapid regrowth of secondary forest of tropical forests and the development of the crop, the vegetation recovered shortly afterwards in 2000 before decreasing again after 2004. Following large-scale deforestation, the total discharge, maximum flow, and the plentiful, ordinary, low, and small-scale runoff increased sharply and decreased thereafter because of vegetation regrowth.


Viruses ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Carr ◽  
Michael Milleson ◽  
Felipe Hernández ◽  
Hunter Merrill ◽  
Michael Avery ◽  
...  

Land use influences disease emergence by changing the ecological dynamics of humans, wildlife, domestic animals, and pathogens. This is a central tenet of One Health, and one that is gaining momentum in wildlife management decision-making in the United States. Using almost 2000 serological samples collected from non-native wild pigs (Sus scrofa) throughout Florida (U.S.), we compared the prevalence and exposure risk of two directly transmitted pathogens, pseudorabies virus (PrV) and Brucella spp., to test the hypothesis that disease emergence would be positively correlated with one of the most basic wildlife management operations: Hunting. The seroprevalence of PrV-Brucella spp. coinfection or PrV alone was higher for wild pigs in land management areas that allowed hunting with dogs than in areas that culled animals using other harvest methods. This pattern did not hold for Brucella alone. The likelihood of exposure to PrV, but not Brucella spp., was also significantly higher among wild pigs at hunted sites than at sites where animals were culled. By failing to consider the impact of dog hunting on the emergence of non-native pathogens, current animal management practices have the potential to affect public health, the commercial livestock industry, and wildlife conservation.


2007 ◽  
Vol 158 (8) ◽  
pp. 235-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Rudolf Heinimann

The term «precision forestry» was first introduced and discussed at a conference in 2001. The aims of this paper are to explore the scientific roots of the precision concept, define «precision forestry», and sketch the challenges that the implementation of this new concept may present to practitioners, educators, and researchers. The term «precision» does not mean accuracy on a small scale, but instead refers to the concurrent coordination and control of processes at spatial scales between 1 m and 100 km. Precision strives for an automatic control of processes. Precision land use differs from precision engineering by the requirements of gathering,storing and managing spatio-temporal variability of site and vegetation parameters. Practitioners will be facing the challenge of designing holistic, standardized business processes that are valid for whole networks of firms,and that follow available standards (e.g., SCOR, WoodX). There is a need to educate and train forestry professionals in the areas of business process re-engineering, computer supported management of business transactions,methods of remote sensing, sensor technology and control theory. Researchers will face the challenge of integrating plant physiology, soil physics and production sciences and solving the supply chain coordination problem (SCCP).


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
E. Iglesias-Rodríguez ◽  
M. E. Cruz ◽  
J. Bravo-Castillero ◽  
R. Guinovart-Díaz ◽  
R. Rodríguez-Ramos ◽  
...  

Heterogeneous media with multiple spatial scales are finding increased importance in engineering. An example might be a large scale, otherwise homogeneous medium filled with dispersed small-scale particles that form aggregate structures at an intermediate scale. The objective in this paper is to formulate the strong-form Fourier heat conduction equation for such media using the method of reiterated homogenization. The phases are assumed to have a perfect thermal contact at the interface. The ratio of two successive length scales of the medium is a constant small parameter ε. The method is an up-scaling procedure that writes the temperature field as an asymptotic multiple-scale expansion in powers of the small parameter ε . The technique leads to two pairs of local and homogenized equations, linked by effective coefficients. In this manner the medium behavior at the smallest scales is seen to affect the macroscale behavior, which is the main interest in engineering. To facilitate the physical understanding of the formulation, an analytical solution is obtained for the heat conduction equation in a functionally graded material (FGM). The approach presented here may serve as a basis for future efforts to numerically compute effective properties of heterogeneous media with multiple spatial scales.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Duró ◽  
Alessandra Crosato ◽  
Maarten G. Kleinhans ◽  
Wim S. J. Uijttewaal

Abstract. Diverse methods are currently available to measure river bank erosion at broad-ranging temporal and spatial scales. Yet, no technique provides low-cost and high-resolution to survey small-scale bank processes along a river reach. We investigate the capabilities of Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry applied with imagery from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to describe the evolution of riverbank profiles in middle-size rivers. The bank erosion cycle is used as a reference to assess the applicability of different techniques. We surveyed 1.2 km of a restored bank of the Meuse River eight times within a year, combining different photograph perspectives and overlaps to identify an efficient UAV flight to monitor banks. The accuracy of the Digital Surface Models (DSMs) was evaluated compared with RTK GPS points and an Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) of the whole reach. An oblique perspective with eight photo overlaps was sufficient to achieve the highest relative precision to observation distance of ~1:1400, with 10 cm error range. A complementary nadiral view increased coverage behind bank toe vegetation. The DSM and ALS had comparable accuracies except on banks, where the latter overestimates elevations. Sequential DSMs captured signatures of the erosion cycle such as mass failures, slump-block deposition, and bank undermining. Although this technique requires low water levels and banks without dense vegetation, it is a low-cost method to survey reach-scale riverbanks in sufficient resolution to quantify bank retreat and identify morphological features of the bank failure and erosion processes.


Oryx ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Jepson ◽  
Richard J. Ladle ◽  
Sujatnika

AbstractOne of the most difficult situations for conservation is where state capacity to regulate is weak, major corporate organizations are absent, and the population does not have a strong culture of wildlife conservation. All these apply to the hugely popular urban Indonesian pastime of keeping wild songbirds, thought to be responsible for rolling local extinctions of several native species. In such situations the introduction of a voluntary, market-based approach could interact with regulation to create new and more effective approaches to reducing the negative conservation impacts of the associated trade. Here we assess the potential of such an approach through an in-depth analysis of the socio-economic and cultural aspects of bird keeping. We project that overall the pastime contributes USD 78.8 million to the economies of the six cities surveyed, supporting a range of associated small-scale rural and urban livelihoods relating to the production of cages and collection of live bird food. Finally, we describe five general bird-breeding models with the capacity to scale up the production of captive-bred birds that may substitute for wild-caught conspecifics. Based on this information we argue that a market-based policy instrument that is capable of shifting bird-keeping trends from wild-caught birds to captive-bred alternatives would align easily with macro-policy agendas in Indonesia relating to pro-poor growth and the creation of more and better jobs. Such a policy instrument could provide exciting opportunities for conservationists to engage the interest and support of non-conservation sectors in Indonesia in efforts to conserve diminishing populations of wild birds.


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (19) ◽  
pp. 6236-6241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Neeson ◽  
Michael C. Ferris ◽  
Matthew W. Diebel ◽  
Patrick J. Doran ◽  
Jesse R. O’Hanley ◽  
...  

In many large ecosystems, conservation projects are selected by a diverse set of actors operating independently at spatial scales ranging from local to international. Although small-scale decision making can leverage local expert knowledge, it also may be an inefficient means of achieving large-scale objectives if piecemeal efforts are poorly coordinated. Here, we assess the value of coordinating efforts in both space and time to maximize the restoration of aquatic ecosystem connectivity. Habitat fragmentation is a leading driver of declining biodiversity and ecosystem services in rivers worldwide, and we simultaneously evaluate optimal barrier removal strategies for 661 tributary rivers of the Laurentian Great Lakes, which are fragmented by at least 6,692 dams and 232,068 road crossings. We find that coordinating barrier removals across the entire basin is nine times more efficient at reconnecting fish to headwater breeding grounds than optimizing independently for each watershed. Similarly, a one-time pulse of restoration investment is up to 10 times more efficient than annual allocations totaling the same amount. Despite widespread emphasis on dams as key barriers in river networks, improving road culvert passability is also essential for efficiently restoring connectivity to the Great Lakes. Our results highlight the dramatic economic and ecological advantages of coordinating efforts in both space and time during restoration of large ecosystems.


2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (10) ◽  
pp. 2296-2311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Trusilova ◽  
Barbara Früh ◽  
Susanne Brienen ◽  
Andreas Walter ◽  
Valéry Masson ◽  
...  

AbstractAs the nonhydrostatic regional model of the Consortium for Small-Scale Modelling in Climate Mode (COSMO-CLM) is increasingly employed for studying the effects of urbanization on the environment, the authors extend its surface-layer parameterization by the Town Energy Budget (TEB) parameterization using the “tile approach” for a single urban class. The new implementation COSMO-CLM+TEB is used for a 1-yr reanalysis-driven simulation over Europe at a spatial resolution of 0.11° (~12 km) and over the area of Berlin at a spatial resolution of 0.025° (~2.8 km) for evaluating the new coupled model. The results on the coarse spatial resolution of 0.11° show that the standard and the new models provide 2-m temperature and daily precipitation fields that differ only slightly by from −0.1 to +0.2 K per season and ±0.1 mm day−1, respectively, with very similar statistical distributions. This indicates only a negligibly small effect of the urban parameterization on the model's climatology. Therefore, it is suggested that an urban parameterization may be omitted in model simulations on this scale. On the spatial resolution of 0.025° the model COSMO-CLM+TEB is able to better represent the magnitude of the urban heat island in Berlin than the standard model COSMO-CLM. This finding shows the importance of using the parameterization for urban land in the model simulations on fine spatial scales. It is also suggested that models could benefit from resolving multiple urban land use classes to better simulate the spatial variability of urban temperatures for large metropolitan areas on spatial scales below ~3 km.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Lussana ◽  
Tuomo Saloranta ◽  
Thomas Skaugen ◽  
Jan Magnusson ◽  
Ole Einar Tveito ◽  
...  

Abstract. The conventional climate gridded datasets based on observations only are widely used in atmospheric sciences; our focus in this paper is on climate and hydrology. On the Norwegian mainland, seNorge2 provides high-resolution fields of daily total precipitation for applications requiring long-term datasets at regional or national level, where the challenge is to simulate small-scale processes often taking place in complex terrain. The dataset constitutes a valuable meteorological input for snow and hydrological simulations; it is updated daily and presented on a high-resolution grid (1 km of grid spacing). The climate archive goes back to 1957. The spatial interpolation scheme builds upon classical methods, such as optimal interpolation and successive-correction schemes. An original approach based on (spatial) scale-separation concepts has been implemented which uses geographical coordinates and elevation as complementary information in the interpolation. seNorge2 daily precipitation fields represent local precipitation features at spatial scales of a few kilometers, depending on the station network density. In the surroundings of a station or in dense station areas, the predictions are quite accurate even for intense precipitation. For most of the grid points, the performances are comparable to or better than a state-of-the-art pan-European dataset (E-OBS), because of the higher effective resolution of seNorge2. However, in very data-sparse areas, such as in the mountainous region of southern Norway, seNorge2 underestimates precipitation because it does not make use of enough geographical information to compensate for the lack of observations. The evaluation of seNorge2 as the meteorological forcing for the seNorge snow model and the DDD (Distance Distribution Dynamics) rainfall–runoff model shows that both models have been able to make profitable use of seNorge2, partly because of the automatic calibration procedure they incorporate for precipitation. The seNorge2 dataset 1957–2015 is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.845733. Daily updates from 2015 onwards are available at http://thredds.met.no/thredds/catalog/metusers/senorge2/seNorge2/provisional_archive/PREC1d/gridded_dataset/catalog.html.


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