Identifying threatened species in the "south" using new criteria

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Stattersfield
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Threatened Species ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Red Lists ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
New Criteria ◽  
Clear Objective

The first application of the new IUCN threatened species categories to birds is reviewed. The advantage of this system is that it is characterized by clear, objective, quantitative criteria. However, for many species, requisite numerical data are lacking, and the magnitude of potential threats has to be inferred. Numbers of threatened species are compared for South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Indo-Pacific Islands. Further analysis identifies the most important countries in terms of priority for conservation action for threatened species, the key habitats for their survival and the main dangers faced. The changes between successive Red Lists indicate a possible extinction crisis of considerable magnitude, whereby half the world's birds could disappear in 800 years. Averting this crisis requires identifying and protecting sites where suites of threatened species co-occur.

Genetic polymorphism and population structure ofEchinococcus ortleppi

Parasitology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (4) ◽  
pp. 450-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. ADDY ◽  
M. WASSERMANN ◽  
F. BANDA ◽  
H. MBAYA ◽  
J. ASCHENBORN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Polymorphism ◽  
South America ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Intraspecific Variability ◽  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa

SUMMARYThe zoonotic cestodeEchinococcus ortleppi(Lopez-Neyra and Soler Planas, 1943) is mainly transmitted between dogs and cattle. It occurs worldwide but is only found sporadically in most regions, with the notable exception of parts of southern Africa and South America. Its epidemiology is little understood and the extent of intraspecific variability is unknown. We have analysed in the present study the genetic diversity among 178E. ortleppiisolates from sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and South America using the complete mitochondrialcox1(1608 bp) andnad1(894 bp) DNA sequences. Genetic polymorphism within the loci revealed 15cox1and sixnad1haplotypes, respectively, and 20 haplotypes of the concatenated genes. Presence of most haplotypes was correlated to geographical regions, and only one haplotype had a wider spread in both eastern and southern Africa. Intraspecific microvariance was low in comparison withEchinococcus granulosussensu stricto, despite the wide geographic range of examined isolates. In addition, the various sub-populations showed only subtle deviation from neutrality and were mostly genetically differentiated. This is the first insight into the population genetics of the enigmatic cattle adaptedEchinococcus ortleppi. It, therefore, provides baseline data for biogeographical comparison amongE. ortleppiendemic regions and for tracing its translocation paths.

scholarly journals Biomass burning fuel consumption dynamics in the tropics and subtropics assessed from satellite

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 3717-3734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Andela ◽  
Guido R. van der Werf ◽  
Johannes W. Kaiser ◽  
Thijs T. van Leeuwen ◽  
Martin J. Wooster ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Return Periods ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Consumption Dynamics

Abstract. Landscape fires occur on a large scale in (sub)tropical savannas and grasslands, affecting ecosystem dynamics, regional air quality and concentrations of atmospheric trace gasses. Fuel consumption per unit of area burned is an important but poorly constrained parameter in fire emission modelling. We combined satellite-derived burned area with fire radiative power (FRP) data to derive fuel consumption estimates for land cover types with low tree cover in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Australia. We developed a new approach to estimate fuel consumption, based on FRP data from the polar-orbiting Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the geostationary Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) in combination with MODIS burned-area estimates. The fuel consumption estimates based on the geostationary and polar-orbiting instruments showed good agreement in terms of spatial patterns. We used field measurements of fuel consumption to constrain our results, but the large variation in fuel consumption in both space and time complicated this comparison and absolute fuel consumption estimates remained more uncertain. Spatial patterns in fuel consumption could be partly explained by vegetation productivity and fire return periods. In South America, most fires occurred in savannas with relatively long fire return periods, resulting in comparatively high fuel consumption as opposed to the more frequently burning savannas in Sub-Saharan Africa. Strikingly, we found the infrequently burning interior of Australia to have higher fuel consumption than the more productive but frequently burning savannas in northern Australia. Vegetation type also played an important role in explaining the distribution of fuel consumption, by affecting both fuel build-up rates and fire return periods. Hummock grasslands, which were responsible for a large share of Australian biomass burning, showed larger fuel build-up rates than equally productive grasslands in Africa, although this effect might have been partially driven by the presence of grazers in Africa or differences in landscape management. Finally, land management in the form of deforestation and agriculture also considerably affected fuel consumption regionally. We conclude that combining FRP and burned-area estimates, calibrated against field measurements, is a promising approach in deriving quantitative estimates of fuel consumption. Satellite-derived fuel consumption estimates may both challenge our current understanding of spatiotemporal fuel consumption dynamics and serve as reference datasets to improve biogeochemical modelling approaches. Future field studies especially designed to validate satellite-based products, or airborne remote sensing, may further improve confidence in the absolute fuel consumption estimates which are quickly becoming the weakest link in fire emission estimates.

scholarly journals Structure of Dark Triad Dirty Dozen Across Eight World Regions

Assessment ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 107319112092261
Author(s):  
Radosław Rogoza ◽  
Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska ◽  
Peter K. Jonason ◽  
Jarosław Piotrowski ◽  
Keith W. Campbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Measurement Invariance ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Dark Triad ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Past ◽  
World Regions ◽  
Dirty Dozen ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Sub Saharan

The Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) has garnered intense attention over the past 15 years. We examined the structure of these traits’ measure—the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (DTDD)—in a sample of 11,488 participants from three W.E.I.R.D. (i.e., North America, Oceania, Western Europe) and five non-W.E.I.R.D. (i.e., Asia, Middle East, non-Western Europe, South America, sub-Saharan Africa) world regions. The results confirmed the measurement invariance of the DTDD across participants’ sex in all world regions, with men scoring higher than women on all traits (except for psychopathy in Asia, where the difference was not significant). We found evidence for metric (and partial scalar) measurement invariance within and between W.E.I.R.D. and non-W.E.I.R.D. world regions. The results generally support the structure of the DTDD.

scholarly journals When Should the Emphasis on Schistosomiasis Control Move to Elimination?

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 85 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Secor ◽  
Daniel Colley
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Operational Research ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
World Health ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Schistosomiasis Control ◽  
The World ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Sub Saharan

The stated goal of the World Health Organization’s program on schistosomiasis is paraphrased as follows: to control morbidity and eliminate transmission where feasible. Switching from a goal of controlling morbidity to interrupting transmission may well be currently feasible in some countries in the Caribbean, some areas in South America, northern Africa, and selected endemic areas in sub-Saharan Africa where there have been improvements in sanitation and access to clean water. However, in most of sub-Saharan Africa, where programmatic interventions still consist solely of annual mass drug administration, such a switch in strategies remains premature. There is a continued need for operational research on how best to reduce transmission to a point where interruption of transmission may be achievable. The level of infection at which it is feasible to transition from control to elimination must also be defined. In parallel, there is also a need to develop and evaluate approaches for achieving and validating elimination. There are currently neither evidence-based methods nor tools for breaking transmission or verifying that it has been accomplished. The basis for these statements stems from numerous studies that will be reviewed and summarized in this article; many, but not all of which were undertaken as part of SCORE, the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation.

scholarly journals Fifty shades of red: Lost or threatened bryophytes in Africa

Bothalia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Van Rooy ◽  
Ariel Bergamini ◽  
Irene Bisang
Keyword(s):  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Red List ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
East African ◽  
Red Lists ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Regional Red Lists ◽  
Specialist Group ◽  
Threatened Bryophytes

Background: A Red List of threatened bryophytes is lacking for Africa. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) Bryophyte Specialist Group has recently launched the ‘Top 10 Initiative’ to identify the 10 species on each continent that are at highest risk of extinction.Objectives: The main aim of this paper was to highlight some of the lost or strongly threatened bryophyte species in sub-Saharan Africa and the East African islands and to draw up a Top 10 list for Africa.Method: Lost or threatened species have been identified with the help of experts on the bryoflora of Africa, global and regional Red Lists and taxonomic literature. Each species on this candidate list is discussed at the hand of its taxonomy, distribution, habitat, threat and current global or regional Red List status as far as previously assessed.Results: Fifty bryophyte species, representing 40 genera and 23 families, have been identified as Top 10 candidates. Of these, 29 are endemic to Africa and 21 are restricted to the East African islands. The majority of the candidate species occur in one of eight ‘biodiversity hotspots’ with most species (19) in the Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands hotspot.Conclusion: This is the first list of lost or threatened bryophytes for Africa and the first Top 10 list of the IUCN Bryophyte Specialist Group. It represents an important step towards regional and global Red List assessment of bryophytes, thus meeting the targets of the Updated Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2011–2020 and priorities of The Shenzhen Declaration on Plant Sciences.

scholarly journals Empowering Girls Through Sport: A Gender Transformative Approach to Life Skills?

2021 ◽  
pp. 91-111
Author(s):  
Christina Ting Kwauk
Keyword(s):  
Life Skills ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Sport For Development ◽  
Key Space ◽  
Ideal Tool ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Life Skills Programs ◽  
Transformative Approach

AbstractFrom the Pacific Islands to Sub-Saharan Africa, development organizations have positioned sport as an ideal tool for building important life skills that can be transferred from the playing field to day-to-day realities. Sport has also been positioned as a key space for girls’ empowerment, especially in contexts where gender norms limit girls’ mobility and/or their opportunities to engage in activities stereotyped as being for boys. But an approach that solely focuses on empowering girls through sport by depositing in her useful life skills ignores the structural conditions that have disempowered her in the first place. This chapter examines the gender transformative potential of sport-based life skills programs by exploring the skills that are being targeted, especially for girls’ empowerment, by the sport for development (SFD) community. The chapter then examines the implications for our understanding of life skills approaches to gender transformative social change, particularly as it pertains to addressing the conditions that have held girls back.

scholarly journals Malaria in developing countries

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (01) ◽  
pp. 001-004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gema Ruiz Lopez del Prado ◽  
Cristina Hernán García ◽  
Lourdes Moreno Cea ◽  
Virginia Fernández Espinilla ◽  
Mari Fe Muñoz Moreno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Vaccine Candidate ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Transmission Rates ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
South Pacific Islands

Malaria still poses a real threat to travellers, particularly in areas with high transmission rates such as sub-Saharan Africa, Papua New Guinea, and the South Pacific islands. Malaria causes an estimated 660,000 deaths each year from 219 million cases of illness. It is a preventable and curable disease. Malaria symptoms appear after a period of seven days or longer, and without treatment, the disease can lead to death. Mosquito bite prevention is the main way to reduce malaria transmission. Chemoprophylaxis recommendations depend on travelers’ age, destination, type of travelling, or length of stay. Pregnant women, children, and immunosuppressed travelers are the most susceptible. There are currently no licensed vaccines against malaria. Results about a research vaccine candidate known as RTS,S/AS01 are expected in 2015.

Banana bunchy top virus (bunchy top of banana).

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lava Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sources Of Resistance ◽  
Worldwide Distribution ◽  
Planting Material ◽  
Banana Industry ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
South Pacific Islands

Abstract BBTV is the most serious virus disease of bananas and plantains. It occurs in Africa, Asia, Australia and South Pacific islands. The virus is transmitted in a persistent, circulative, non-propagative manner by the banana aphid, Pentalonia nigronervosa, which has worldwide distribution. The virus is also spread through infected planting material. All banana cultivars are thought to be susceptible, with no known sources of resistance. The typical symptoms of bunchy top of banana are very distinctive and readily distinguished from those caused by other viruses of banana. Infected plants exhibit a rosetted or 'bunchy top' appearance. Once infected, plants do not recover. The disease is a major constraint to production in many areas where it occurs. Devastating epidemics occurred early in the twentieth century in Fiji and Australia. In the 1920s, the disease had a dramatic economic effect on the banana industry in parts of Australia (Dale, 1987). More recently, BBTV has been decimating the banana industry in Pakistan (Jones, 1994) and in sub-Saharan Africa, BBTV was the main contributor to a reduction in banana bunch production by up to 70-90% in disease affected areas (Kumar et al., 2015). BBTV is listed by ISSG as one of the world's 100 worst invasive alien species.

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