Analysis of land use change in Mangrove of the Barra San José, Chiapas, Mexico

Mangroves are the most productive ecosystems in the world, since they provide ecosystem services, are biological filters, stabilize the coastline and are the habitat of important fishing species and migratory birds nest. However, the inadequate implementation of agricultural, livestock and tourism development policies has implied the loss of biodiversity, habitat fragmentation and deforestation. The objective of this work is to evaluate the dynamics of changes in mangrove cover and land use in Barra San José, Chiapas, Mexico, in the period 1978-2017. The detection of the changes was carried out by means of a post-classificatory multitemporal study, through the superposition of digital cartographic bases of land use of the series III and VI of the INEGI. Maps of change processes, deforestation rates, and change matrices were obtained. The results indicate a loss of 574 ha of Mangroves in 39 years, with a deforestation rate of -0.41%, where human settlements and agriculture accounted for 90% of the changes. The conversion of Mangroves to grasslands was very marked, showing the fragmentation and loss of habitat to which the forests are exposed in the study area. The results of this analysis should be considered in the establishment of management and conservation policies for this ecological region.

Diversity and distribution of sediment bacteria across an ecological and trophic gradient

Can we cluster bacterial sediment communities based on lake size, depth, and trophic status? Or, are bacterial microbial communities an emergent property of their geography, integrating regional physical and climatic conditions? Lakes in Minnesota are uniquely situated to address these questions because of their wide geographic range and variability in size and basin land-use. In this study, we selected twenty lakes with varying morphological and chemical properties across four ecological regions of Minnesota. Our objectives were to (i)) evaluate the diversity and spatial variation of the bacterial community at the sediment-water interface and (ii) determine how lake location and watershed land-use impact aqueous chemistry and influence community structure. Our data indicate that sediment communities from similar depth intervals are more likely to cluster by ecological region rather than any individual lake properties (e.g., trophic status, TP concentration, lake depth). However, composition is tied to a given lake, wherein samples from the same core were more alike than samples at similar depths across lakes. Our results illustrate the diversity within lake sediment microbial communities and provide insight into relationships between taxonomy, physicochemical, and geographic properties of north temperate lakes.

Identification of mealybugs, soft scale insects and their predators in vineyards across the savannah agro-ecological region of Nigeria

Insect-vectored viruses are a major threat to grapevine production but there is a dearth of information on the occurrence and distribution of key grapevine pests in Nigeria. The recent detection of grapevine leafroll associated virus-1 (GLRaV-1), a known insect-vectored ampelovirus, in Nigeria elevates the importance of the identification of its potential vectors as a precursor to assessing the risk of grapevine leafroll disease spread. This study was conducted to determine the occurrence and diversity of potential vectors of grapevine viruses and their natural enemies in vineyards across the savannah agro-ecological region of Nigeria. Forty vineyard and nursery locations were surveyed during 2016 and 45 arthropod samples were collected. The samples were first morphologically identified, and DNA barcoding was conducted on a subset of 16 representative samples using universal primers specific to the Mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) gene of most insects. The results indicated the presence of two species of scale insects (Parasaissetia nigra and Saissetia coffeae) and two mealybug species (Maconellicoccus hirsutus and Ferrisia virgata), some ofwhich are potential grapevine virus vectors, in Nigerian vineyards. In addition, the natural enemies of these insect species were detected which includes three species of parasitoids (Anagyrus kamali, Anagyrus pseudococci and Encarsia inaron) and one predator (Hyperaspidius mimus). While the detection of mealybugs and scale insects underscore the risk of vector-mediated virus spread in Nigerian vineyards, the identification of their natural enemies indicates presence of natural biological control agents to facilitate an integrated management of economically important grapevine virus diseases in the country. Keywords: Mealybugs; scale insects; parasitoids and predators; insect vectors; grapevine viruses.

Invasive Pest and Disease Pathogen as Sneakers in Railways for Their Spread in Different Ecological Region: A New Report

A new pathway of travels by invasive pest and disease pathogen through railways, as sneakers, were noticed for the first time. The Indian railways passing through the soybean fields infested with Spodoptera litura, after evening attracted the moth of Spodoptera by the illuminating lights in the railways compartment and the moth enters into the compartment through open compartment windows. These moths remain in the railway compartment until the dawn and get out of the compartment as the early morning sun light enters into the compartments and are thus the sneakers crop pest in railways due to their unnoticed travels/transport. Such sneakers crop pest travels up to a distance of 600 km during the period of night from one ecological region to another ecological region having the same crop to infest or the alternative host crop of the pest to cause the fresh infestation. This phenomenon of pest travel was observed in the region of Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, India, having soybean infestation. This is a quick travel by the pest into different areas, unseen and unreported earlier and may occur in any part of the world where the railways pass through the infested crop areas and attract the positive phototaxis pest and transport them, as sneakers, in to another ecological region. In another instance, the Sigatoka disease pathogen of banana was also noticed to travels from one ecological region to another ecological region through the railways, as sneakers without notice. This phenomenon of disease pathogen’s travels was noticed in Jalgaon region from where the banana produce is transported to different parts of India. In the trading and transport of banana through railways, the loaders use the banana leaves infected with the sigatoka pathogen as a packaging material for banana bunches while loading the banana produce in the railway wagons for their transportation. Thus, the sigatoka pathogen travels up to a distance of 1200 km/day along with the banana produce through the railways. The sigatoka infected leaves, with the unloading of banana produce also sneaks into the new ecological region and spread to infect the banana crop available in the region. Thus, the positive phototaxis insect pest are the sneakers in the railways for their travels while diseases pathogens with healthy crop produce travels and embarks to sneaks into a new ecological region and thus the railways transport system unintentionally transport the crop pest and disease pathogen from one ecological region to another. The knowledge of this new travel pathway will be useful in finalizing the strategies of plant quarantine and management of invasive pest and disease pathogens.

CLINICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN'S EPILEPSY LIVING IN THE ARAL SEA REGION

In order to study the structure of epileptic seizures in childrenliving in the Aral Sea region, studies were carried out in 56 children with epilepticseizures. The results of the study showed that symptomatic epilepsy with generalizedtonic-clonic seizures is more common (81%). Epiativity was detected in 91.5% ofthe examined patients. EchoEG analysis revealed an increase in intracranial pressurein patients, and EEG analysis revealed an increase in foci of epiactivity in theoccipital region and diffusion in children in an unfavorable ecological region.

Integrated Use of AHP-GIS-Remote sensing predicting potential areas of coffee plants: a case study of buffer zone of Ta Dung Nature park, Vietnam

Ta Dung Nature park is an important ecological region, its buffer zone currently has coffee as the main crop. However, declines in coffee yields result in a relative reduction in spending power by households. This study aimed to assess land potential to proposal the land for coffee cultivation. Sustainable agriculture must nurture healthy ecosystems and support the sustainable management of land and natural resources. An approach based on integrated use of the Analytical Hierarchy ProcessGeographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing (AHP-GIS-RS) developed using 13 environmental sub-factors. Study result showed the land of development of current coffee cultivation have had an effect from the most important criteria is soil type (0.24), followed by land use cover unit (0.17) and irrigation system (0.15). Sub-factors (SF9: rock expose above soil; SF11 : flood status, SF1 2: irrigation system) have the largest “potential” land for coffee plants. Coffee plantation was recommended to orient in 6,82 % total of study area by the possibility of expanding cultivated area. A framework of potential model was provided for other industry crops in other study areas in Vietnam.

The Effect of Demographic Variables on Secondary Level Students' Attitude towards Mathematics in Nepal

Student's attitude towards mathematics is a global issue that directly influences the students' achievement in mathematics. The study aimed at investigating the students' attitudes towards mathematics and the effects of demographic variables on their attitude in the selected grade IX Students in Provence No 1, Nepal. The study has adopted a quantitative survey design. A total of 540 grade IX students were selected randomly and the revised attitude scale ATMI of Tapia and Marsh (2004) was adopted to find out their attitudes towards mathematics and the effect of demographic variables. The data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and multiple linear regressions. The results of the study showed that the students' attitude towards mathematics is positive. Similarly, the effects of students' attitudes towards mathematics in terms of demographic variables (age, gender, family type, parent's education, parent's occupation, school location, and ecological region) were found low. The attitude of the students at a different age level showed a greater decline in attitudes as the students increase their grade level. However, the results showed that other considerable variables may have more impact on students' attitudes towards mathematics.

Time Series Analysis of Forest Dynamics at the Ecoregion Level

Forecasting of forest dynamics at a large scale is essential for land use management, global climate change and biogeochemistry modeling. We develop time series models of the forest dynamics in the conterminous United States based on forest inventory data collected by the US Forest Service over several decades. We fulfilled autoregressive analysis of the basal forest area at the level of US ecological regions. In each USA ecological region, we modeled basal area dynamics on individual forest inventory pots and performed analysis of its yearly averages. The last task involved Bayesian techniques to treat irregular data. In the absolute majority of ecological regions, basal area yearly averages behave as geometric random walk with normal increments. In California Coastal Province, geometric random walk with normal increments adequately describes dynamics of both basal area yearly averages and basal area on individual forest plots. Regarding all the rest of the USA’s ecological regions, basal areas on individual forest patches behave as random walks with heavy tails. The Bayesian approach allowed us to evaluate forest growth rate within each USA ecological region. We have also implemented time series ARIMA models for annual averages basal area in every USA ecological region. The developed models account for stochastic effects of environmental disturbances and allow one to forecast forest dynamics.