The possible role of local air pollution in climate change in West Africa

The climate of West Africa is characterized by a sensitive monsoon system that is associated with marked natural precipitation variability. This region has been and is projected to be subject to substantial global and regional-scale changes including greenhouse-gas-induced warming and sea-level rise, land-use and land-cover change, and substantial biomass burning. We argue that more attention should be paid to rapidly increasing air pollution over the explosively growing cities of West Africa, as experiences from other regions suggest that this can alter regional climate through the influences of aerosols on clouds and radiation, and will also affect human health and food security. We need better observations and models to quantify the magnitude and characteristics of these impacts

SPARC 2019 Fake news & home truths : Salford postgraduate annual research conference book of abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2019 SPARC conference. This year we not only celebrate the work of our PGRs but also our first ever Doctoral School Best Supervisor awards, which makes this year’s conference extra special. Once again we have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with over 90 presenters, the conference truly showcases a vibrant, innovative and collaborative PGR community at Salford. These abstracts provide a taster of the inspiring, relevant and impactful research in progress, and provide delegates with a reference point for networking and initiating critical debate. Find an abstract that interests you, and say “Hello” to the author. Who knows what might result from your conversation? With such wide-ranging topics being showcased, we encourage you to take up this great opportunity to engage with researchers working in different subject areas from your own. To meet global challenges, high impact research needs interdisciplinary collaboration. This is recognised and rewarded by all major research funders. Engaging with the work of others and forging collaborations across subject areas is an essential skill for the next generation of researchers. Even better, our free ice cream van means that you can have those conversations while enjoying a refreshing ice lolly

Badgers (Meles meles) as reservoirs of vector-borne infections in the UK

In recent years, there has been an increased incidence and changing distribution of a number of vector-borne diseases, and the temperate regions are not an exception. Whilst Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) are known to host a wide range of pathogens, information on haemoparasites of badgers, their role as reservoirs of vector-borne infections, and whether ticks parasitizing these badgers pose any risk to animal or human health is limited. Whole badger blood samples collected at Woodchester Park in Gloucestershire, Southwest England and from around Northeast England, and ticks parasitizing these badgers, were analysed with a battery of assays targeting the DNA of Babesia spp., Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Rickettsia, Borrelia and Trypanosoma spp. While badgers were found to be heavily infected with Babesia spp. (98.9% of blood samples from Gloucestershire and 100% from NE England), no A. phagocytophilum or Rickettsia spp. were detected. Whereas rates of infections with Trypanosoma spp. in badgers from Gloucestershire have been previously determined in another study, no Trypanosomes were found in badgers from Northeast England. As for ticks, the DNA of Babesia spp., A. phagocytophilum, Rickettsia helvetica, Borrelia garinii, Borrelia valaisiana, and Borrelia afzelii were detected in questing ticks at Woodchester Park; only Babesia spp. were found in ticks removed from badgers in NE England. All Babesiae found in badgers were identical to each other and to those found in I. canisuga from NE England and questing I. ricinus from Gloucestershire, and closely related to Babesia annae (Babesia vulpes) associated with foxes. Furthermore, there was an evidence of chronic Babesia infections among badgers, and possibly of vertical transmission. Phylogenetic trees based on the analysis of two genetic markers, namely the 18S rRNA and B-tubulin genes, demonstrate the relatedness of Babesia spp. detected in this study to other known species of Babesia

Daily characteristics of West African summer monsoon precipitation in CORDEX simulations

We analyze and intercompare the performance of a set of ten regional climate models (RCMs) along with the ensemble mean of their statistics in simulating daily precipitation characteristics during the West African monsoon (WAM) period (June-July-August-September). The experiments are conducted within the framework of the COordinated Regional Downscaling Experiments for the African domain. We find that the RCMs exhibit substantial differences that are associated with a wide range of estimates of higher-order statistics, such as intensity, frequency, and daily extremes mostly driven by the convective scheme employed. For instance, a number of the RCMs simulate a similar number of wet days compared to observations but greater rainfall intensity, especially in oceanic regions adjacent to the Guinea Highlands because of a larger number of heavy precipitation events. Other models exhibit a higher wet-day frequency but much lower rainfall intensity over West Africa due to the occurrence of less frequent heavy rainfall events. This indicates the existence of large uncertainties related to the simulation of daily rainfall characteristics by the RCMs. The ensemble mean of the indices substantially improves the RCMs' simulated frequency and intensity of precipitation events, moderately outperforms that of the 95th percentile, and provides mixed benefits for the dry and wet spells. Although the ensemble mean improved results cannot be generalized, such an approach produces encouraging results and can help, to some extent, to improve the robustness of the response of the WAM daily precipitation to the anthropogenic greenhouse gas warming