Impacts of El Niño southern oscillation and Indian Ocean dipole on dengue incidence in Bangladesh

Dengue dynamics are driven by complex interactions between hosts, vectors and viruses that are influenced by environmental and climatic factors. Several studies examined the role of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in dengue incidence. However, the role of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), a coupled ocean atmosphere phenomenon in the Indian Ocean, which controls the summer monsoon rainfall in the Indian region, remains unexplored. Here, we examined the effects of ENSO and IOD on dengue incidence in Bangladesh. According to the wavelet coherence analysis, there was a very weak association between ENSO, IOD and dengue incidence, but a highly significant coherence between dengue incidence and local climate variables (temperature and rainfall). However, a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) revealed that the association between dengue incidence and ENSO or IOD were comparatively stronger after adjustment for local climate variables, seasonality and trend. The estimated effects were nonlinear for both ENSO and IOD with higher relative risks at higher ENSO and IOD. The weak association between ENSO, IOD and dengue incidence might be driven by the stronger effects of local climate variables such as temperature and rainfall. Further research is required to disentangle these effects.

Southern pine (plantations)

Southern pine is a well-established group of commercial plantation species in Queensland and produces a premium grade, quality softwood. The southern pines group is valued for excellent growth, straightness, minimal branching, wood density and even wood texture. Southern pine timber products have a well-established processing industry and market in Queensland. It is in demand both nationally and internationally. High-grade sawn wood serves the upper end of the domestic market and exports include sawn wood and woodchip.

Integrated disease management of stem end rot of mango in the Southern Philippines

This research aimed to develop and evaluate pre- and postharvest management strategies to reduce stem end rot (SER) incidence and extend saleable life of 'Carabao' mango fruits in Southern Philippines. Preharvest management focused on the development and improvement of fungicide spray program, while postharvest management aimed to develop alternative interventions aside from hot water treatment (HWT). Field evaluation of systemic fungicides, namely azoxystrobin ( Amistar 25SC), tebuconazole ( Folicur 25WP), carbendazim ( Goldazim 500SC), difenoconazole ( Score 250SC) and azoxystrobin+difenoconazole ( Amistar Top), reduced blossom blight severity and improved fruit setting and retention, resulting in higher fruit yield but failed to sufficiently suppress SER incidence. Based on these findings, an improved fungicide spray program was developed taking into account the infection process of SER pathogens and fungicide resistance. Timely application of protectant (mancozeb) and systemic fungicides (azoxystrobin, carbendazim and difenoconazole) during the most critical stages of mango flower and fruit development ensured higher harvestable fruit yield and minimally lowered SER incidence. Control of SER was also achieved by employing postharvest treatment such as HWT (52-55°C for 10 min), which significantly prolonged the saleable life of mango fruits. However, extended hot water treatment (EHWT; 46°C pulp temperature for 15 min), rapid heat treatment (RHT; 59°C for 30-60 sec), fungicide dip and promising biological control agents failed to satisfactorily reduce SER and prolong saleable life. In contrast, the integration of the improved spray program as preharvest management practice, and postharvest treatments such as HWT and fungicide dips (azoxystrobin, 150-175 ppm; carbendazim, 312.5 ppm; and tebuconazole, 125-156 ppm), significantly reduced disease and extended marketable life for utmost 8 days.

Portrait of Albert Einstein in the Southern California desert Portraits; Men

Verso: "Er sinnt in der Wueste"

Population Expansion and Genetic Structure in Carcharhinus brevipinna in the Southern Indo-Pacific

Background:Quantifying genetic diversity and metapopulation structure provides insights into the evolutionary history of a species and helps develop appropriate management strategies. We provide the first assessment of genetic structure in spinner sharks (Carcharhinus brevipinna), a large cosmopolitan carcharhinid, sampled from eastern and northern Australia and South Africa. Methods and Findings:Sequencing of the mitochondrial DNA NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 gene for 430 individuals revealed 37 haplotypes and moderately high haplotype diversity (h = 0.6770 ±0.025). While two metrics of genetic divergence (ΦST and FST) revealed somewhat different results, subdivision was detected between South Africa and all Australian locations (pairwise ΦST, range 0.02717–0.03508, p values ≤ 0.0013; pairwise FST South Africa vs New South Wales = 0.04056, p = 0.0008). Evidence for fine-scale genetic structuring was also detected along Australia’s east coast (pairwise ΦST = 0.01328, p < 0.015), and between south-eastern and northern locations (pairwise ΦST = 0.00669, p < 0.04).Conclusions: The Indian Ocean represents a robust barrier to contemporary gene flow in C. brevipinna between Australia and South Africa. Gene flow also appears restricted along a continuous continental margin in this species, with data tentatively suggesting the delineation of two management units within Australian waters. Further sampling, however, is required for a more robust evaluation of the latter finding. Evidence indicates that all sampled populations were shaped by a substantial demographic expansion event, with the resultant high genetic diversity being cause for optimism when considering conservation of this commercially-targeted species in the southern Indo-Pacific.

Suspected Pyrrolizidine Alkaloid Hepatotoxicosis in Wild Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombats (Lasiorhinus latifrons)

Southern hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus latifrons) inhabiting degraded habitat in South Australia were recently identified with extensive hair loss and dermatitis and were in thin to emaciated body condition. Pathological and clinicopathological investigations on affected juvenile wombats identified a toxic hepatopathy suggestive of plants containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids, accompanied by photosensitive dermatitis. Hepatic disease was suspected in additional wombats on the basis of serum biochemical analysis. Preliminary toxicological analysis performed on scats and gastrointestinal contents from wombats found in this degraded habitat identified a number of toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids consistent with ingestion of Heliotropeum europaeum. Although unpalatable, ingestion may occur by young animals due to decreased availability of preferred forages in degraded habitats and the emergence of weeds around the time of weaning of naive animals. Habitat degradation leading to malnutrition and ingestion of toxic weed species is a significant welfare issue in this species.

Canada Park Official Award Commemorative Medal

Obverse: Canada state emblem, a maple leaf, within the leaf there is a group of trees. Reverse: The area abounds in tree tops, all of them bending toward the center of the medal.

Canada's Centennial Commemorative Medal

Obverse: Stylized Star of David within which lies a state emblem of Canada, a maple leaf. Reverse: Above a sculptured map of Canada.

Anthelmintic resistance in ovine gastrointestinal nematodes in inland southern Queensland

Objective To establish the prevalence of anthelmintic resistance in ovine gastrointestinal nematodes in southern Queensland. Design An observational parasitological study using the faecal egg count reduction test. Methods Sheep farms (n = 20) enrolled in this study met the twin criteria of using worm testing for drench decisions and having concerns about anthelmintic efficacy. On each farm, 105 sheep were randomly allocated to one of six treatment groups or an untreated control group. Faecal samples were collected on day 0 and days 10–14 for worm egg counts and larval differentiation. Single- and multi-combination anthelmintics, persistent and non-persistent, oral liquid or capsule, pour-on and injectable formulations were tested. Monepantel was not tested. Farmers also responded to a questionnaire on drenching practices. Results Haemonchus contortus was the predominant species. Efficacy <95% was recorded on 85% of farms for one or more anthelmintics and on 10% of farms for six anthelmintics. No resistance was identified on three farms. The 4-way combination product was efficacious (n = 4 farms). Napthalophos resistance was detected on one farm only. Resistance to levamisole (42% of farms), moxidectin injection (50% of farms) and the closantel/abamectin combination (67% of farms) was identified. Moxidectin oral was efficacious against Trichostrongylus colubriformis, which was predominant on only one farm. Of the farms tested, 55% ran meat breeds, 60% dosed more than the recommended dose rate and 70% always, mostly or when possible practised a ‘drench and move’ strategy. Conclusion This level of anthelmintic resistance in southern Queensland will severely compromise worm control and force increased use of monepantel.

Sexual reproduction in chydorid cladocerans (Anomopoda, Chydoridae) in southern Finland - implications for paleolimnology

The relationship between sexual reproduction of littoral chydorid cladocerans (Anomopoda, Chydoridae) and environmental factors in aquatic ecosystems has been rarely studied, although the sexual behavior of some planktonic cladocerans is well documented. Ecological monitoring was used to study the relationship between climate-related and non-climatic environmental factors and chydorid sexual reproduction patterns in nine environmentally different lakes that were closely situated to each other in southern Finland. Furthermore, paleolimnological ephippium analysis was used to clarify how current sexual reproduction is reflected in surface sediments of the same nine lakes. Additionally, short sediment cores from two of the lakes were studied with ephippium analysis to examine how recent climate-related and non-climatic environmental changes were reflected in chydorid sexual reproduction. Ephippium analysis uses the subfossil shells of asexual individuals to represent asexual reproduction and the shells of sexual females, i.e. ephippia, to represent sexual reproduction. The relative proportion of ephippia of all chydorid species, i.e. total chydorid ephippia (TCE) indicates the relative proportion of sexual reproduction during the open-water season. This thesis is part of the EPHIPPIUM-project which aims to develop ephippium analysis towards a quantitative climate reconstruction tool. To be able to develop a valid climate model, the influence of the environmental stressors other than climate on contemporary sexual reproduction and its reflection in sediment assemblages must be clarified so they can be eliminated from the model. During contemporary monitoring a few sexual individuals were observed during summer, apparently forced to sexual reproduction by non-climatic local environmental factors, such as crowding or invertebrate predation. Monitoring also revealed that the autumnal chydorid sexual reproduction period was consistent between the different lakes and climate-related factors appeared to act as the main inducers and regulators of autumnal sexual reproduction. However, during autumn, chydorid species and populations among the lakes exhibited a wide variation in the intensity, induction time, and length of autumnal sexual reproduction. These variations apparently act as mechanisms for local adaptations due to the genetic variability provided by sexual reproduction that enhance the ecological flexibility of chydorid species, allowing them to inhabit a wide range of environments. A large variation was also detected in the abundance of parthenogenetic and gamogenetic individuals during the open-water season among the lakes. On the basis of surface sediment samples, the general level of the TCE is ca. 3-4% in southern Finland, reflecting an average proportion of sexual reproduction in this specific climate. The variation in the TCE was much lower than could be expected on the basis of the monitoring results. This suggests that some of the variation detected by monitoring may derive from differences between sampling sites and years smoothed out in the sediment samples, providing an average of the entire lake area and several years. The TCE is always connected to various ecological interactions in lake ecosystems and therefore is always lake-specific. Hypothetically, deterioration of climate conditions can be detected in the TCE as an increase in ephippia of all chydorid species, since a shortening open-water season is reflected in the relative proportions of the two reproduction modes. Such an increase was clearly detected for the time period of the Little Ice Age in a sediment core. The paleolimnological results also indicated that TCE can suddenly increase due to ephippia of one or two species, which suggests that at least some chydorids can somehow increase the production of resting eggs under local environmental stress. Thus, some environmental factors may act as species-specific environmental stressors. The actual mechanism of the increased sexual reproduction seen in sediments has been unknown but the present study suggests that the mechanism is probably the increased intensity of gamogenesis, i.e. that a larger proportion of individuals in autumnal populations reproduce sexually, which results in a larger proportion of ephippia in sediments and a higher TCE. The results of this thesis demonstrate the utility of ephippium analysis as a paleoclimatological method which may also detect paleolimnological changes by identifying species-specific environmental stressors. For a quantitative TCE-based climate reconstruction model, the natural variation in the TCE of surface sediments in different climates must be clarified with more extensive studies. In addition, it is important to recognize the lakes where the TCE is not only a reflection of the length of the open-water season, but is also non-climatically forced. The results of ephippium analysis should always be interpreted in a lake-specific manner and in the context of other paleoecological proxies.

Old colonies and new settlements in Southern Ukraine and Crimea

Digital image

Remote sensing of leaf area index: enhanced retrieval from close-range and remotely sensed optical observations

A wide range of models used in agriculture, ecology, carbon cycling, climate and other related studies require information on the amount of leaf material present in a given environment to correctly represent radiation, heat, momentum, water, and various gas exchanges with the overlying atmosphere or the underlying soil. Leaf area index (LAI) thus often features as a critical land surface variable in parameterisations of global and regional climate models, e.g., radiation uptake, precipitation interception, energy conversion, gas exchange and momentum, as all areas are substantially determined by the vegetation surface. Optical wavelengths of remote sensing are the common electromagnetic regions used for LAI estimations and generally for vegetation studies. The main purpose of this dissertation was to enhance the determination of LAI using close-range remote sensing (hemispherical photography), airborne remote sensing (high resolution colour and colour infrared imagery), and satellite remote sensing (high resolution SPOT 5 HRG imagery) optical observations. The commonly used light extinction models are applied at all levels of optical observations. For the sake of comparative analysis, LAI was further determined using statistical relationships between spectral vegetation index (SVI) and ground based LAI. The study areas of this dissertation focus on two regions, one located in Taita Hills, South-East Kenya characterised by tropical cloud forest and exotic plantations, and the other in Gatineau Park, Southern Quebec, Canada dominated by temperate hardwood forest. The sampling procedure of sky map of gap fraction and size from hemispherical photographs was proven to be one of the most crucial steps in the accurate determination of LAI. LAI and clumping index estimates were significantly affected by the variation of the size of sky segments for given zenith angle ranges. On sloping ground, gap fraction and size distributions present strong upslope/downslope asymmetry of foliage elements, and thus the correction and the sensitivity analysis for both LAI and clumping index computations were demonstrated. Several SVIs can be used for LAI mapping using empirical regression analysis provided that the sensitivities of SVIs at varying ranges of LAI are large enough. Large scale LAI inversion algorithms were demonstrated and were proven to be a considerably efficient alternative approach for LAI mapping. LAI can be estimated nonparametrically from the information contained solely in the remotely sensed dataset given that the upper-end (saturated SVI) value is accurately determined. However, further study is still required to devise a methodology as well as instrumentation to retrieve on-ground green leaf area index . Subsequently, the large scale LAI inversion algorithms presented in this work can be precisely validated. Finally, based on literature review and this dissertation, potential future research prospects and directions were recommended.

Perennial pastures for marginal farming country in southern Queensland. 1. Grass establishment techniques

Efficient ways to re-establish pastures are needed on land that requires a rotation between pastures and crops. We conducted trials in southern inland Queensland with a range of tropical perennial grasses sown into wheat stubble that was modified in various ways. Differing seedbed preparations involved cultivation or herbicide sprays, with or without fertilizer at sowing. Seed was broadcast and sowing time ranged from spring through to autumn on 3 different soil types. Seed quality and post-sowing rainfall were major determinants of the density of sown grass plants in the first year. Light cultivation sometimes enhanced establishment compared with herbicide spraying of standing stubble, most often on harder-setting soils. A nitrogen + phosphorus mixed fertilizer rarely produced any improvement in sown grass establishment and sometimes increased weed competition. The effects were similar for all types of grass seed from hairy fascicles to large, smooth panicoid seeds and minute Eragrostis seeds. There was a strong inverse relationship between the initial density of sown grass established and the level of weed competition.