scholarly journals Anthropogenic impacts on mosquito populations in North America over the past century

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilia Rochlin ◽  
Ary Faraji ◽  
Dominick V. Ninivaggi ◽  
Christopher M. Barker ◽  
A. Marm Kilpatrick
Author(s):  
Anne Billson

This chapter introduces the Swedish vampire film, Låt den rätte komma (Let the Right One In), which not only stands out from contemporary vampire films, but ranks among the very best vampire movies of the past century. The chapter mentions director Tomas Alfredson and screenwriter John Ajvide Lindqvist, who adapted Låt den rätte komma from his own novel of the same name. It also mentions a song by the lugubrious British rock singer-songwriter Morrissey as Lindqvist's inspiration for the title of his novel 'Let the Right One Slip In'. It recounts Let the Right One In's world premiere on 26 January 2008 at the Göteborg International Film Festival in Sweden and screening at other festivals in Europe, North America, Australia and South Korea. The chapter explains why Let the Right One In stands head and shoulders above other recent horror movies like Twilight from 2008.


Author(s):  
Samuel I. Zeveloff

This chapter initially provides an overview of the current distribution and status of the common raccoon in North America. Its overall numbers and distribution, and even its utilization of certain habitats have changed dramatically; all largely within the past century. This contribution then examines how the numbers of raccoons that are killed or ‘harvested’ have changed during the last century. The term ‘harvest’ is commonly used by wildlife managers in North America to refer to the number of animals taken by hunters and trappers, for sport, or to utilize and sell their fur. The policies that determine raccoon exploitation by such practices are herein reviewed. There is an assessment of whether and how population variables are considered in establishing these hunting and trapping policies. Ultimately, this analysis reveals the state of raccoon management and offers thoughts about its potential paths.


2002 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 374-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Stein

This panel poses the question, “Is there a center to American religious history?” We historians live in a world and work in a period when the politically correct answer to the question is, “Of course not!” In this day of decentered religious historiography the celebration of radical diversity seems to prohibit any other response. In our publications and teaching we set out to expose readers and students to the rich religious pluralism in America. We catalogue the traditions that reach back to colonial times, the communities that filled out the wider spectrum of religious options during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, and the new religious movements that have appeared since the midpoint of the past century. One publication that provides a contemporary index to this inclusive catalogical approach is J. Gordon Mellon's Encyclopedia of American Religions, which in its fifth edition filled 1,150 pages with data regarding more than 2,100 discrete religious organizations in America, from the Aaronic Order to the Zoroastrian Associations in North America.


2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1718) ◽  
pp. 2682-2690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Carbone ◽  
Samuel T. Turvey ◽  
Jon Bielby

Identifying tradeoffs between hunting and scavenging in an ecological context is important for understanding predatory guilds. In the past century, the feeding strategy of one of the largest and best-known terrestrial carnivores, Tyrannosaurus rex , has been the subject of much debate: was it an active predator or an obligate scavenger? Here we look at the feasibility of an adult T. rex being an obligate scavenger in the environmental conditions of Late Cretaceous North America, given the size distributions of sympatric herbivorous dinosaurs and likely competition with more abundant small-bodied theropods. We predict that nearly 50 per cent of herbivores would have been within a 55–85 kg range, and calculate based on expected encounter rates that carcasses from these individuals would have been quickly consumed by smaller theropods. Larger carcasses would have been very rare and heavily competed for, making them an unreliable food source. The potential carcass search rates of smaller theropods are predicted to be 14–60 times that of an adult T. rex . Our results suggest that T. rex and other extremely large carnivorous dinosaurs would have been unable to compete as obligate scavengers and would have primarily hunted large vertebrate prey, similar to many large mammalian carnivores in modern-day ecosystems.


1968 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 608-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald R. Johnson

As in other regions of North America, the frequencies of genes producing dark-phase phenotypes in red fox populations of the northern Great Plains are much reduced from that of fur-trade times. Despite their lower fitness, the dark phases are maintained primarily by reproduction rather than mutation or immigration. The hypotheses that have been advanced to explain the decrease in frequency of dark-phase foxes in North America during the past century are briefly reviewed.


Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haibo He ◽  
Zaihua Liu ◽  
Dongli Li ◽  
Hongbo Zheng ◽  
Jianxin Zhao ◽  
...  

During the past century, many lacustrine environments have changed substantially at the ecosystem level as a result of anthropogenic activities. In this study, the distributions of n-alkane homologues, carbon isotopes (δ13Corg), organic carbon, and the C/N atomic ratio in two sediment cores from Fuxian Lake (Yunnan, southwest China) are used to elucidate the anthropogenic impacts on this deep, oligotrophic, freshwater lake. The carbon preference index (CPI) of long-chain components, average chain length (ACL), proportion of aquatic macrophytes (Paq), and terrigenous/aquatic ratios (TAR) show different temporal patterns that reflect variations in biological production. Notably, the n-alkane homologues are shown to be more sensitive to environmental changes than δ13Corg and the C/N ratio. Prior to the 1950s, minor variations in the sedimentary geochemical record were likely caused by climate changes, and they represent a natural stage of lake evolution. The onset of cultural eutrophication in Fuxian Lake occurred in the 1950s, when the n-alkane proxies collectively exhibited high-amplitude fluctuations but overall decreasing trends that coincided with population growth and related increases in land-use pressure. In the 21st century, Fuxian Lake has become even more eutrophic in response to human activities, as indicated by sharp increases in C/N ratio, Paq, δ13Corg, ACL, CPI, and TAR. Our findings provide robust molecular sedimentary evidence confirming that the environmental evolution of lakes in the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau over the past century was closely associated with enhanced anthropogenic activities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-381
Author(s):  
Ny Anjara Fifi Ravelomanantsoa ◽  
Sarah Guth ◽  
Angelo Andrianiaina ◽  
Santino Andry ◽  
Anecia Gentles ◽  
...  

Seven zoonoses — human infections of animal origin — have emerged from the Coronaviridae family in the past century, including three viruses responsible for significant human mortality (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2) in the past twenty years alone. These three viruses, in addition to two older CoV zoonoses (HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63) are believed to be originally derived from wild bat reservoir species. We review the molecular biology of the bat-derived Alpha- and Betacoronavirus genera, highlighting features that contribute to their potential for cross-species emergence, including the use of well-conserved mammalian host cell machinery for cell entry and a unique capacity for adaptation to novel host environments after host switching. The adaptive capacity of coronaviruses largely results from their large genomes, which reduce the risk of deleterious mutational errors and facilitate range-expanding recombination events by offering heightened redundancy in essential genetic material. Large CoV genomes are made possible by the unique proofreading capacity encoded for their RNA-dependent polymerase. We find that bat-borne SARS-related coronaviruses in the subgenus Sarbecovirus, the source clade for SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, present a particularly poignant pandemic threat, due to the extraordinary viral genetic diversity represented among several sympatric species of their horseshoe bat hosts. To date, Sarbecovirus surveillance has been almost entirely restricted to China. More vigorous field research efforts tracking the circulation of Sarbecoviruses specifically and Betacoronaviruses more generally is needed across a broader global range if we are to avoid future repeats of the COVID-19 pandemic.


VASA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Gebauer ◽  
Holger Reinecke

Abstract. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) has been proven to be a causal factor of atherosclerosis and, along with other triggers like inflammation, the most frequent reason for peripheral arterial disease. Moreover, a linear correlation between LDL-C concentration and cardiovascular outcome in high-risk patients could be established during the past century. After the development of statins, numerous randomized trials have shown the superiority for LDL-C reduction and hence the decrease in cardiovascular outcomes including mortality. Over the past decades it became evident that more intense LDL-C lowering, by either the use of highly potent statin supplements or by additional cholesterol absorption inhibitor application, accounted for an even more profound cardiovascular risk reduction. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), a serin protease with effect on the LDL receptor cycle leading to its degradation and therefore preventing continuing LDL-C clearance from the blood, is the target of a newly developed monoclonal antibody facilitating astounding LDL-C reduction far below to what has been set as target level by recent ESC/EAS guidelines in management of dyslipidaemias. Large randomized outcome trials including subjects with PAD so far have been able to prove significant and even more intense cardiovascular risk reduction via further LDL-C debasement on top of high-intensity statin medication. Another approach for LDL-C reduction is a silencing interfering RNA muting the translation of PCSK9 intracellularly. Moreover, PCSK9 concentrations are elevated in cells involved in plaque composition, so the potency of intracellular PCSK9 inhibition and therefore prevention or reversal of plaques may provide this mechanism of action on PCSK9 with additional beneficial effects on cells involved in plaque formation. Thus, simultaneous application of statins and PCSK9 inhibitors promise to reduce cardiovascular event burden by both LDL-C reduction and pleiotropic effects of both agents.


1901 ◽  
Vol 51 (1309supp) ◽  
pp. 20976-20977
Author(s):  
W. M. Flinders Petrje
Keyword(s):  

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