Elderly Middle Eastern Man Observing a Torah Scroll

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Flying-Fox Species Density-A Spatial Risk Factor for Hendra Virus Infection in Horses in Eastern Australia

Hendra virus causes sporadic but typically fatal infection in horses and humans in eastern Australia. Fruit-bats of the genus Pteropus (commonly known as flying-foxes) are the natural host of the virus, and the putative source of infection in horses; infected horses are the source of human infection. Effective treatment is lacking in both horses and humans, and notwithstanding the recent availability of a vaccine for horses, exposure risk mitigation remains an important infection control strategy. This study sought to inform risk mitigation by identifying spatial and environmental risk factors for equine infection using multiple analytical approaches to investigate the relationship between plausible variables and reported Hendra virus infection in horses. Spatial autocorrelation (Global Moran’s I) showed significant clustering of equine cases at a distance of 40 km, a distance consistent with the foraging ‘footprint’ of a flying-fox roost, suggesting the latter as a biologically plausible basis for the clustering. Getis-Ord Gi* analysis identified multiple equine infection hot spots along the eastern Australia coast from far north Queensland to central New South Wales, with the largest extending for nearly 300 km from southern Queensland to northern New South Wales. Geographically weighted regression (GWR) showed the density of P. alecto and P. conspicillatus to have the strongest positive correlation with equine case locations, suggesting these species are more likely a source of infection of Hendra virus for horses than P. poliocephalus or P. scapulatus. The density of horses, climate variables and vegetation variables were not found to be a significant risk factors, but the residuals from the GWR suggest that additional unidentified risk factors exist at the property level. Further investigations and comparisons between case and control properties are needed to identify these local risk factors.

Is stocking barramundi (Lates calcarifer) in north-eastern Queensland a threat to aquatic biodiversity?

The stocking of predators can have significant consequences on recipient aquatic ecosystems. We investigated some potential ecological impacts of stocking a predatory fish (Lates calcarifer) into a coastal river and a large impoundment in north-eastern Australia. L. calcarifer was mostly found in slower-moving, larger reaches of the river or in the main body of the impoundment where there was abundant suitable habitat. In the tidally influenced freshwater reaches of the coastal river, L. calcarifer predominately consumed aytid and palaemonid shrimp that were associated with local macrophyte beds or littoral grasses. In this area the diets of juvenile stocked and wild L. calcarifer were similar and stocked fish displayed a high degree of site fidelity. Further upstream in the river, away from tidal influence, and in the impoundment, fish were the main prey item. Cannibalism was uncommon and we suggest that, at the current stocking densities, there was little dietary evidence of predatory impacts from L. calcarifer on species of conservation concern. We caution against introducing novel predatory species such as L. calcarifer in or near areas that are outside their natural range and are known to support rare, threatened or endangered species.

Quantifying the response of cotton production in eastern Australia to climate change

Abstract The paper evaluates the effect of future climate change (as per the CSIRO Mk3.5 A1FI future climate projection) on cotton yield in Southern Queensland and Northern NSW, eastern Australia by using of the biophysical simulation model APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator). The simulations of cotton production show that changes in the influential meteorological parameters caused by climate change would lead to decreased future cotton yields without the effect of CO2 fertilisation. By 2050 the yields would decrease by 17 %. Including the effects of CO2 fertilisation ameliorates the effect of decreased water availability and yields increase by 5.9 % by 2030, but then decrease by 3.6 % in 2050. Importantly, it was necessary to increase irrigation amounts by almost 50 % to maintain adequate soil moisture levels. The effect of CO2 was found to have an important positive impact of the yield in spite of deleterious climate change. This implies that the physiological response of plants to climate change needs to be thoroughly understood to avoid making erroneous projections of yield and potentially stifling investment or increasing risk.

Archaean crustal evolution in eastern Finland : New geochronological and geochemical constraints from the Kuhmo terrain and the Nurmes belt

This thesis summarises the results of four original papers concerning U-Pb geochronology and geochemical evolution of Archaean rocks from the Kuhmo terrain and the Nurmes belt, eastern Finland. The study area belongs to a typical Archaean granite-greenstone terrain, composed of metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks in generally N-S trending greenstone belts as well as a granitoid-gneiss complex with intervening gneissic and migmatised supracrustal and plutonic rocks. U-Pb data on migmatite mesosomes indicate that the crust surrounding the Tipasjärvi-Kuhmo-Suomussalmi greenstone belt is of varying age. The oldest protolith detected for a migmatite mesosome from the granitoid-gneiss complex is 2.94 Ga, whereas the other dated migmatites protoliths have ages of 2.84 2.79 Ga. The latter protoliths are syngenetic with the majority of volcanic rocks in the adjacent Tipasjärvi-Kuhmo-Suomussalmi greenstone belt. This suggests that the genesis of some of the volcanic rocks within the greenstone belt and surrounding migmatite protoliths could be linked. Metamorphic zircon overgrowths with ages of 2.84 2.81 Ga were also obtained. The non-migmatised plutonic rocks in the Kuhmo terrain and in the Nurmes belt record secular geochemical evolution, typical of Archaean cratons. The studied tonalitic rocks have ages of 2.83 2.75 Ga and they have geochemical characteristics similar to low-Al and high-Al TTD (tonalite-trondhjemite-dacite). The granodiorites, diorites, and gabbros with high Mg/Fe and LILE-enriched characteristics were mostly emplaced between 2.74 2.70 Ga and they exhibit geochemical characteristics typical of Archaean sanukitoid suites. The latest identified plutonic episode took place at 2.70 2.68 Ga, when compositionally heterogeneous leucocratic granitoid rocks, with a variable crustal component, were emplaced. U-Pb data on migmatite leucosomes suggest that leucosome generation may have been coeval with this latest plutonic event. On the basis of available U-Pb and Sm-Nd isotopic data it appears that the plutonic rocks of the Kuhmo terrain and the Nurmes belt do not contain any significant input from Palaeoarchaean sources. A characteristic feature of the Nurmes belt is the presence of migmatised paragneisses, locally preserving primary edimentary structures, with sporadic amphibolite intercalations. U-Pb studies on zircons indicate that the precursors of the Nurmes paragneisses were graywackes that were deposited between 2.71 Ga and 2.69 Ga and that they had a prominent 2.75 2.70 Ga source. Nd isotopic and whole-rock geochemical data for the intercalated amphibolites imply MORB sources. U-Pb data on zircons from the plutonic rocks and paragneisses reveal that metamorphic zircon growth took place at 2.72 2.63 Ga. This was the last tectonothermal event related to cratonisation of the Archaean crust of eastern Finland.

Layout of settlements in Eastern Crimea

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Drainage and Irrigation Project Eastern Crimea

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Prevalence and potential fitness cost of weak phosphine resistance in Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) in eastern Australia

The prevalence of resistance to phosphine in the rust-red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, from eastern Australia was investigated, as well as the potential fitness cost of this type of resistance. Discriminating dose tests on 115 population samples collected from farms from 2006 to 2010 showed that populations containing insects with the weakly resistant phenotype are common in eastern Australia (65.2 of samples), although the frequency of resistant phenotypes within samples was typically low (median of 2.3). The population cage approach was used to investigate the possibility that carrying the alleles for weak resistance incurs a fitness cost. Hybridized populations were initiated using a resistant strain and either of two different susceptible strains. There was no evidence of a fitness cost based on the frequency of susceptible phenotypes in hybridized populations that were reared for seven generations without exposure to phosphine. This suggests that resistant alleles will tend to persist in field populations that have undergone selection even if selection pressure is removed. The prevalence of resistance is a warning that this species has been subject to considerable selection pressure and that effective resistance management practices are needed to address this problem. The resistance prevalence data also provide a basis against which to measure management success.

A retrospective study of Babesia macropus associated with morbidity and mortality in eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) and agile wallabies (Macropus agilis)

This is a retrospective study of 38 cases of infection by Babesia macropus, associated with a syndrome of anaemia and debility in hand-reared or free-ranging juvenile eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) from coastal New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland between 1995 and 2013. Infection with B. macropus is recorded for the first time in agile wallabies (Macropus agilis) from far north Queensland. Animals in which B. macropus infection was considered to be the primary cause of morbidity had marked anaemia, lethargy and neurological signs, and often died. In these cases, parasitised erythrocytes were few or undetectable in peripheral blood samples but were sequestered in large numbers within small vessels of visceral organs, particularly in the kidney and brain, associated with distinctive clusters of extraerythrocytic organisms. Initial identification of this piroplasm in peripheral blood smears and in tissue impression smears and histological sections was confirmed using transmission electron microscopy and molecular analysis. Samples of kidney, brain or blood were tested using PCR and DNA sequencing of the 18S ribosomal RNA and heat shock protein 70 gene using primers specific for piroplasms. The piroplasm detected in these samples had 100 sequence identity in the 18S rRNA region with the recently described Babesia macropus in two eastern grey kangaroos from New South Wales and Queensland, and a high degree of similarity to an unnamed Babesia sp. recently detected in three woylies (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi) in Western Australia.

Characterization of maize growing environments in eastern and southern Africa using the APSIM model

Maize grown in eastern and southern Africa experiences random occurrences of drought. This uncertainty creates difficulty in developing superior varieties and their agronomy. Characterisation of drought types and their frequencies could help in better defining selection environments for improving resistance to drought. We used the well tested APSIM maize model to characterise major drought stress patterns and their frequencies across six countries of the region including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The database thus generated covered 35 sites, 17 to 86 years of daily climate records, 3 varieties and 3 planting densities from a total of 11,174 simulations. The analysis identified four major drought environment types including those characterised by low-stress which occurred in 42% of the years, mid-season drought occurring in 15% of the years, late-terminal stress which occurred in 22% of the years and early-terminal drought occurring in 21% of the years. These frequencies varied in relation to sites, genotypes and management. The simulations showed that early terminal stress could result in a yield reduction of 70% compared with low-stress environmental types. The study presents the importance of environmental characterization in contributing to maize improvement in eastern and southern Africa.

Spatiotemporal aspects of Hendra Virus infection in Pteropid Bats (Flying-Foxes) in Eastern Australia

Hendra virus (HeV) causes highly lethal disease in horses and humans in the eastern Australian states of Queensland (QLD) and New South Wales (NSW), with multiple equine cases now reported on an annual basis. Infection and excretion dynamics in pteropid bats (flying-foxes), the recognised natural reservoir, are incompletely understood. We sought to identify key spatial and temporal factors associated with excretion in flying-foxes over a 2300 km latitudinal gradient from northern QLD to southern NSW which encompassed all known equine case locations. The aim was to strengthen knowledge of Hendra virus ecology in flying-foxes to improve spillover risk prediction and exposure risk mitigation strategies, and thus better protect horses and humans. Monthly pooled urine samples were collected from under roosting flying-foxes over a three-year period and screened for HeV RNA by quantitative RT-PCR. A generalised linear model was employed to investigate spatiotemporal associations with HeV detection in 13,968 samples from 27 roosts. There was a non-linear relationship between mean HeV excretion prevalence and five latitudinal regions, with excretion moderate in northern and central QLD, highest in southern QLD/northern NSW, moderate in central NSW, and negligible in southern NSW. Highest HeV positivity occurred where black or spectacled flying-foxes were present; nil or very low positivity rates occurred in exclusive grey-headed flying-fox roosts. Similarly, little red flying-foxes are evidently not a significant source of virus, as their periodic extreme increase in numbers at some roosts was not associated with any concurrent increase in HeV detection. There was a consistent, strong winter seasonality to excretion in the southern QLD/northern NSW and central NSW regions. This new information allows risk management strategies to be refined and targeted, mindful of the potential for spatial risk profiles to shift over time with changes in flying-fox species distribution.

Diet of dingoes and other wild dogs in peri-urban areas of north-eastern Australia

Knowledge of the resource requirements of urban predators can improve our understanding of their ecology and assist town planners and wildlife management agencies in developing management approaches that alleviate human-wildlife conflicts. Here we examine food and dietary items identified in scats of dingoes in peri-urban areas of north-eastern Australia to better understand their resource requirements and the potential for dingoes to threaten locally fragmented populations of native fauna. Our primary aim was to determine what peri-urban dingoes eat, and whether or not this differs between regions. We identified over 40 different food items in dingo scats, almost all of which were mammals. Individual species commonly observed in dingo scats included agile wallabies, northern brown bandicoots and swamp wallabies. Birds were relatively common in some areas but not others, as were invertebrates. Dingoes were identified as a significant potential threat to fragmented populations of koalas. Dietary overlap was typically very high or near-identical between regions, indicating that peri-urban dingoes ate the same types or sizes of prey in different areas. Future studies should seek to quantify actual and perceived impacts of, and human attitudes towards, peri-urban dingoes, and to develop management strategies with a greater chance of reducing human-wildlife conflicts.

Christian-Muslim Dialogue : Perspectives of Four Lebanese Thinkers

This study describes and analyses two Lebanese Muslims and two Lebanese Christians ideas about Christian-Muslim dialogue, its nature, aims, and methods and its different dimensions, which include doctrinal, ethical, and social dimensions. On the basis of the analysis, the four thinkers contributions for promoting constructive dialogue are evaluated. The persons studied are two religious authorities, the Shiite Great Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah (b. 1935) and the Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan of Mount Lebanon, Georges Khodr (b. 1923), and two academic scholars, Doctor Mahmoud Ayoub (b. 1935) and Doctor, Father Mouchir Aoun (b. 1964), from the Shiite and Greek Catholic communities, respectively. The method of the study is systematic analysis. The sources consist of the four thinkers writings on Christian-Muslim relations, the most of which have been published in Lebanon in the 1990s and 2000s in the Arabic language. In their general guidelines for Christian-Muslim dialogue, the four authors do not offer any novel or unusual insights. However, their dialogue visions are multi-faceted, motivating interreligious encounter both on religious and practical grounds and clarifying the theological grounds and socio-political conditions of this endeavour. The major challenge appears to be the tension between loyalty to one s own convictions and taking into account the particular self-understanding of the other. While this tension may be ultimately unsolvable, it is obvious that linking dialogue tightly to missionary motivations or certain theological agenda imposed on the others is not conducive for better mutual understanding. As for how diverse theologies of religions affect interreligious dialogue, narrow exclusivism hardly promotes mutual knowledge and appreciation, but also inclusive and pluralistic positions have their particular dilemmas. In the end, dialogue is possible from diverse positions on theology of religions. All the authors discuss the theological themes of divine revelation, concept of God, and human condition and ultimate destiny. The two religions particular views on these issues cannot be reconciled, but the authors offer diverse means to facilitate mutual understanding on them, such as increasing mutual knowledge, questioning certain traditional condemnations, showing theological parallels between the two religions, and transcending doctrinal disagreements by stressing common religious experience or ethical concerns. Among the theological themes, especially the concept of God seems to offer possibilities for better understanding than has traditionally been the case. Significantly, all the four authors maintain that Christians and Muslims share the faith in the one God, irrespective of their disagreements about the nature of his oneness. Basic ethical principles are not discussed as widely by the four authors as might be expected, which may reflect the shared cultural background and common ethical values of the Lebanese Muslims and Christians. On this level, Christians alienation from the Islamic law appears as the most significant challenge to mutual understanding, while neighbourly love and the golden rule of ethics offer a fruitful basis for further dialogue. As for the issue of political power-sharing in Lebanon, it is clear that the proposal of an Islamic state is problematic in a country with a sizable Christian minority and a heterogeneous Muslim population. Some form of democracy seems more viable for a multireligious country, but the question remains how to retain religion as a vital force in society, which is felt to be important by all the four Lebanese authors.