The biogeographic basis of Ebola-virus disease outbreaks: A model for other zoonotic diseases?

We first determined the differential role of favorability of environmental conditions and mammalian chorotypes in explaining the presence of the Ebola virus in Africa. We then combined environmental factors and chorotypes using fuzzy logic, which better explained the distribution of Ebola virus. The core area for the virus was associated with human infections of known animal origin, with infections of unknown source detected in areas that are biogeographically more peripheral. Variation in the environmental favorability for disease outbreaks may be monitored using indices of macroclimatic oscillations. This may provide the basis for an early warning system based on the variation in macroclimatic indices and the locations where human contact with multiple animal species tend to occur. We propose to study the biogeography of zoonoses by: 1) determining the potential spatial distribution of these diseases, according to environmental factors and the biogeographic structure of animals linked to the zoonosis cycle; 2) search for relationships between disease outbreaks and global atmospheric oscillations to forecast periods of higher risk of emergence of the infectious diseases.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Brotes de ébola y la presencia de murciélagos en áreas humanizadas: un análisis biogeográfico

Recientemente se ha demostrado que existe una relación positiva entre la deforestación en África y la aparición de brotes de Ébola en humanos. Sin embargo, los mecanismos que median en esta relación aún son desconocidos. Se ha sugerido la facilitación del acceso del ser humano a la selva, y por tanto su mayor contacto con la fauna autóctona; y el favorecimiento ambiental de la fauna capaz de transmitir el virus, incluidos los murciélagos de la fruta (familia Pteropodidae). Nuestro objetivo ha sido tratar de comprobar el posible papel de los murciélagos de la fruta en la transmisión del Ébola en zonas recientemente deforestadas, mediante un enfoque hipotético-deductivo basado en la biogeografía de estas especies. Las actividades humanas podrían haber contribuido significativamente a definir las áreas de distribución de 15 especies de murciélagos de la fruta. Esta contribución es más significativa aún cuando el área de estudio se restringe a África central y occidental, contexto biogeográfico favorable a la presencia del virus del Ébola en la naturaleza. La influencia humana se intensifica en el caso de tres especies en particular: Eidolon helvum, Epomops franqueti e Hypsignatus monstrosus, cuyo vínculo con el Ébola está demostrado a través de pruebas serológicas y biomoleculares. Además, nuestro análisis proporciona evidencias de que las zonas donde la actividad humana favorece la presencia de 7 especies de murciélagos de la fruta están significativamente solapadas con la localización de brotes de Ébola cuya relación con eventos de deforestación se ha sugerido con anterioridad. Entre éstas especies hay 5 cuya relación con el Ébola está confirmada en laboratorio: las tres antes citadas, más Micropteropus pusillus y Rousettus aegyptiacus. Esto sugiere la existencia de un vínculo positivo entre la pérdida de bosque y la presencia de murciélagos de la fruta con capacidad de transmitir la enfermedad, en zonas donde infecciones de Ébola en seres humanos han tenido lugar.UKAID y USAID a través de CIFOR Bushmeat Research Initiative; proyecto CGL2016-76747-R del Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competividad y Fondos FEDER. // Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

A large-scale assessment of European rabbit damage to agriculture in Spain

BACKGROUND: Numerous small and medium-sized mammal pests cause widespread and economically significant damage to crops all over the globe. However, most research on pest species has focused on accounts of the level of damage. There are fewer studies concentrating on the description of crop damage caused by pests at large geographical scales, or on analysing the ecological and anthropogenic factors correlated with these observed patterns. We investigated the relationship between agricultural damage by the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and environmental and anthropogenic variables throughout Spain. RESULTS: Rabbit damage was mainly concentrated within the central-southern regions of Spain. We found that rabbit damage has increased significantly between the early 2000s and 2013. Greater losses were typical of those areas where farming dominated and natural vegetation was scarce, where main railways and highways were present, and where environmental conditions were generally favourable for rabbit populations to proliferate. CONCLUSIONS: From our analysis we suggest that roads and railway lines act as potential corridors along which rabbits can spread. The recent increase in Spain of such infrastructure may explain the rise in rabbit damage reported in this study. Our approach is valuable as a method for assessing drivers of wildlife pest damage at large spatial scales, and can be used to propose methods to reduce human-wildlife conflict

Daños: Evaluación de un problema

Mientras hay zonas en las que el conejo prácticamente ha desaparecido debido a enfermedades como la RHD, en otras sus desproporcionadas poblaciones causan grandes daños en los cultivos. En el artículo que publicamos a continuación, un equipo de investigadores analiza estadísticamente este fenómeno mediante las quejas de los agricultores aparecidas en internet comparadas con otros datos, una forma original y operativa de entender el problema a escala nacional

Mammalian biogeography and the Ebola virus in Africa

ABSTRACT 1. Ebola virus is responsible for the fatal Ebola virus disease (EVD). 2. Identifying the distribution area of the Ebola virus is crucial for understanding risk factors conditioning the emergence of new EVD cases. Existing distribution models have underrepresented the potential contribution that reservoir species and vulnerable species make in sustaining the presence of the virus. 3. In this paper, we map favourable areas for Ebola virus in Africa according to environmental and zoogeographic descriptors, independent of human-to-human transmissions. We combine two different biogeographic approaches: analysis of mammalian distribution types (chorotypes), and distribution modelling of the Ebola virus. 4. We first obtain a model defining the distribution of environmentally favourabl

Disentangling the relative effects of bushmeat availability on human nutrition in central Africa

We studied links between human malnutrition and wild meat availability within the Rainforest Biotic Zone in central Africa. We distinguished two distinct hunted mammalian diversity distributions, one in the rainforest areas (Deep Rainforest Diversity, DRD) containing taxa of lower hunting sustainability, the other in the northern rainforest-savanna mosaic, with species of greater hunting potential (Marginal Rainforest Diversity, MRD). Wild meat availability, assessed by standing crop mammalian biomass, was greater in MRD than in DRD areas. Predicted bushmeat extraction was also higher in MRD areas. Despite this, stunting of children, a measure of human malnutrition, was greater in MRD areas. Structural equation modeling identified that, in MRD areas, mammal diversity fell away from urban areas, but proximity to these positively influenced higher stunting incidence. In DRD areas, remoteness and distance from dense human settlements and infrastructures explained lower stunting levels. Moreover, stunting was higher away from protected areas. Our results suggest that in MRD areas, forest wildlife rational use for better human nutrition is possible. By contrast, the relatively low human populations in DRD areas currently offer abundant opportunities for the continued protection of more vulnerable mammals and allow dietary needs of local populations to be met

Recent loss of closed forests is associated with Ebola virus disease outbreaks

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a contagious, severe and often lethal form of hemorrhagic fever in humans. The association of EVD outbreaks with forest clearance has been suggested previously but many aspects remained uncharacterized. We used remote sensing techniques to investigate the association between deforestation in time and space, with EVD outbreaks in Central and West Africa. Favorability modeling, centered on 27 EVD outbreak sites and 280 comparable control sites, revealed that outbreaks located along the limits of the rainforest biome were significantly associated with forest losses within the previous 2 years. This association was strongest for closed forests (>83%), both intact and disturbed, of a range of tree heights (5 - >19 m). Our results suggest that the increased probability of an EVD outbreak occurring in a site is linked to recent deforestation events, and that preventing the loss of forests could reduce the likelihood of future outbreaks

Mapping the availability of bushmeat for consumption in Central African cities

The trade of bushmeat from rural areas to supply burgeoning cities is a major conservation and livelihood concern. Using a whole-city sampling strategy we mapped the distribution and numbers of meat outlets in the Kinshasa-Brazzaville metropolitan area, two neighboring capital cities in Central Africa. We show that both cities differ in the number and density of meat outlets, with more in Brazzaville per area sampled and inhabitants. The number of meat outlets is related to human population densities and primarily concentrated along the banks of the Congo River, in the more affluent areas of the cities. Across the two cities, roughly 22% of all sampled markets (50% in Brazzaville and 19% in Kinshasa) and 24% of all visited restaurants (24% in each city) were selling bushmeat during our survey. Despite the relatively low number of establishments offering bushmeat for sale, extrapolated to the entire area and population of both cities, we expect the overall amounts of wild animal meats consumed per annum to be significantly high. We suggest that the supply of such amounts of wild animal meat will strongly impact the animal populations sourcing these cities. Our data also indicate that the number of domestic meat outlets may be adequate to supply urban dwellers with sufficient animal protein