New records of sylvatic plague in Kansas

Sylvatic plague, or plague of wild rodents is caused by Yersinia pestis and entered California (USA) from Asia about 1899. Extensive sampling during the 1930's and 1940's documented the spread of plague to approximately its current distribution in North America. Records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document plague in Kansas (USA) between 1945 and 1950, but since then there has been no documentation of plague in the state. Following a die-off of a black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colony on the Cimarron National Grassland, in the southwestern corner of Kansas (3710'N, 10145'W), we sampled fleas from burrows in June 1997, and tested them for Yersinia pestis. Twelve of 13 pools of Oropsyla hirsuta and one of two Pulex sp. were positive. A similar sample of fleas, from another colony where black-tailed prairie dogs were active at the time, yielded no positive fleas.     

Emergence, spread, persistence and fade-out of sylvatic plague in Kazakhstan

Predicting the dynamics of zoonoses in wildlife is important not only for prevention of transmission to humans, but also for improving the general understanding of epidemiological processes. A large dataset on sylvatic plague in the Pre-Balkhash area of Kazakhstan (collected for surveillance purposes) provides a rare opportunity for detailed statistical modelling of an infectious disease. Previous work using these data has revealed a host abundance threshold for epizootics, and climatic influences on plague prevalence. Here, we present a model describing the local space-time dynamics of the disease at a spatial scale of 20 × 20 km(2) and a biannual temporal scale, distinguishing between invasion and persistence events. We used a Bayesian imputation method to account for uncertainties resulting from poor data in explanatory variables and response variables. Spatial autocorrelation in the data was accounted for in imputations and analyses through random effects. The results show (i) a clear effect of spatial transmission, (ii) a high probability of persistence compared with invasion, and (iii) a stronger influence of rodent abundance on invasion than on persistence. In particular, there was a substantial probability of persistence also at low host abundance.     

Landscape ecology of sylvatic chikungunya virus and mosquito vectors in southeastern Senegal

The risk of human infection with sylvatic chikungunya (CHIKV) virus was assessed in a focus of sylvatic arbovirus circulation in Senegal by investigating distribution and abundance of anthropophilic Aedes mosquitoes, as well as the abundance and distribution of CHIKV in these mosquitoes. A 1650 km(2) area was classified into five land cover classes: forest, barren, savanna, agriculture and village. A total of 39,799 mosquitoes was sampled from all classes using human landing collections between June 2009 and January 2010. Mosquito diversity was extremely high, and overall vector abundance peaked at the start of the rainy season. CHIKV was detected in 42 mosquito pools. Our data suggest that Aedes furcifer, which occurred abundantly in all land cover classes and landed frequently on humans in villages outside of houses, is probably the major bridge vector responsible for the spillover of sylvatic CHIKV to humans.     

Isolation and characterization of 11 microsatellite loci from Oropsylla hirsuta, a vector of sylvatic plague

The flea (Oropsylla hirsuta) is an important vector of the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, in black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies. We developed 11 anonymous microsatellite primers for O. hirsuta using a subtractive hybridization procedure. All primers were polymorphic exhibiting 4-12 alleles.     

Suncus murinus. Observations on ecology, distribution, status to plague in Bombay

The common house shrew Suncus murinus has been shown to play an important role in maintenance and perpetuation of plague infection by earlier plague workers. With the control of human plague there is no knowledge about foci of plague in small mammals associated with man. Present study was carried out to fill in this Lacuna. Studies carried out in the present paper reveal that S. murinus does not harbour any plague infection in Bombay. This species is widely distributed in Bombay and is found to be associated with man throughout the year. The principal species of fleas harboured by this mammal is Xenopsylla cheopis. The insectivore mainly feeds on tine animals and insects and breeds throughout the year.     

Possible predation of cysts--a gap in the knowledge of dinoflagellate ecology?

A theoretical model of dinoflagellate ecology is presented.The model incorporates currently neglected aspects of potentialimportance in the field of plankton research, such as lossesto the cyst seed bank due to predation or microbial degradation.     

产业生态学的新思路

分析扩展了产业生态学的概念。新扩展的产业生态学概念在产业生态学原有闭路循环原则的基础上 ,扩展出了本土性、经济性和开放性等基本原则。结合芬兰吉瓦斯克拉产业系统进行了实证分析 ,展望了完善的产业生态系统的基本特征。     

Hypotheses in urban ecology: building a common knowledge base

Urban ecology is a rapidly growing research field that has to keep pace with the pressing need to tackle the sustainability crisis. As an inherently multi-disciplinary field with close ties to practitioners and administrators, research synthesis and knowledge transfer between those different stakeholders is crucial. Knowledge maps can enhance knowledge transfer and provide orientation to researchers as well as practitioners. A promising option for developing such knowledge maps is to create hypothesis networks, which structure existing hypotheses and aggregate them according to topics and research aims. Combining expert knowledge with information from the literature, we here identify 62 research hypotheses used in urban ecology and link them in such a network. Our network clusters hypotheses into four distinct themes: (i) Urban species traits & evolution, (ii) Urban biotic communities, (iii) Urban habitats and (iv) Urban ecosystems. We discuss the potentials and limitations of this approach. All information is openly provided as part of an extendable Wikidata project, and we invite researchers, practitioners and others interested in urban ecology to contribute additional hypotheses, as well as comment and add to the existing ones. The hypothesis network and Wikidata project form a first step towards a knowledge base for urban ecology, which can be expanded and curated to benefit both practitioners and researchers.     

Asian traditions of knowledge: the disputed questions of science,nature and ecology

The search for ‘ecological insights’ in venerable Asian traditions of thought prompts questions about how such traditions understood humans in relation to nature. Answers which focus on philosophical and religious ideas may overlook culturally important understandings of people and places articulated within scientific and medical thinking. The paper tentatively explores the prospects for gleaning a form of ethics of place from the study of traditional Hindu and Chinese medical sources. Although there are serious problems with the idea that any unadulterated assimilation from other traditions can take place, these sources can be thought of as incorporating a place-centred (topocentric) ethic. By looking closely at Francis Zimmerman’s study of Hindu medicine, it is argued that a poetics of place can be ascribed to Ayurvedic discourses on health and disease. It may be possible to associate a similar poetics with classical Chinese medical worldviews, these being reconcilable with—though not the same as—contemporary ecological understandings of humans in relation to the world. Although no pristine reconstruction of Asian traditions of medical thought can be made, the conclusion of the present paper is that it would be wrong to dismiss these traditions as ‘antienvironmental’, based purely on the study of philosophical and religious texts.     

建设21世纪知识生态，促进人类持续繁荣

当人类即将告别充满科学发现和技术发明活力的２０世纪,跨入崭新的２１世纪的时候,根据电子技术和信息技术的日益发展,联合国研究机构在１９９０年提出了“知识经济”的新概念,１９９６年明确定义了“以知识为基础的经济（Ｋｎｏｗｌｅｄｇｅｂａｓｅｄｅｃｏｎｏｍｙ...     

宏观生态系统科学整合研究的多学科知识融合及其技术途径

综合认识大尺度的宏观生态系统结构功能、空间变异和动态演变的过程机理和模式机制,实现对生态系统变化及其对人类福祉影响的定量模拟、科学评估和预测预警,服务生态系统的利用保护及调控管理,是当代宏观生态系统科学的重要发展方向,正在孕育并形成大尺度的宏观生态系统科学整合生态学(IEMES)研究新领域。本研究通过对宏观生态系统科学整合生态学研究的基础理论、多学科知识融合途径及其关键技术问题的系统分析,形成以下几个基本认识: 1)宏观生态系统科学整合生态学研究是以区域、大陆和全球尺度的宏观生态系统为研究对象,采用多学科知识融合方法和技术,致力于解决人类社会发展的食物安全、资源安全、生态安全、环境安全等重大资源环境问题。2)宏观生态系统科学整合生态学研究的基本科技任务是: 理解宏观生态系统的结构功能基本属性,监测生态系统状态变化,解释生态系统时空演变规律,认知生态系统运维过程机理,定量评估生态系统功能状态及服务能力,预测生态系统动态演变及地理格局,预警生态系统变化及生态环境灾害。3)宏观生态系统科学整合生态学研究需要重新构造“多源数据分析-多模型模拟-多学科知识融合”的理论和方法学体系,发展“多尺度观测、多方法印证、多过程融合、跨尺度模拟”的多学科知识融合关键技术。4)大陆尺度的地基-空基-天基多时空尺度生态系统观测试验网络是承载多学科知识深度融合研究的基础科技设施,需要围绕区域、大陆和全球尺度的宏观生态系统科学问题,发展多要素-多过程-多界面-多介质-多尺度-多方法的多学科维度生态学知识融合关键技术。     

New perspectives through brackish water ecology

According to conventional wisdom, the brackish water ecology of the Baltic, like all ecology, is a secondary science. That is, the phenomena it considers can be decomposed into series of more elementary events acting under a sequence of laws that culminates either in the netherworld of quantum physics or in the realm of the cosmological. Ecology, however, is not a derivative science; it is fundamental in its own right. The Baltic ecosystem, for example, is a complex system of many-components. Using combinatorics one may argue that most of the whole-system configurations which ecologists encounter comprise unique and original events that elude treatment via the conventional Baconian approach. Chaos does not reign, however, because there exist among the populations of the ecosystem self-reinforcing mutualistic loops that exert a form of selection upon their constituent members quite different from the `natural selection' of evolutionary theory. This feedback gives rise to what Karl Popper described as `propensities' that serve in contingent systems in lieu of conventional forces to maintain the coherence of the ecosystem. The ensuing autonomous `ecodynamics' can be quantified using information theory, resulting in measures that can be used to compare the status of the Baltic ecosystem with those of similar bodies of water, such as Chesapeake Bay.