Rodent Biology and Management; Abstracts of papers presented at the International Conference on Rodent Biology and Management, held at Beijing, China, 5-9 October 1998

Farm Management,

WILD BIRDS AND EMERGING DISEASES: MODELING AVIAN INFLUENZA TRANSMISSION RISK BETWEEN DOMESTIC AND WILD BIRDS IN CHINA

Emerging infectious diseases in wildlife have become a growing concern to human health and biological systems with more than 75 percent of known emerging pathogens being transmissible from animals to humans. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 has caused major global concern over a potential pandemic and since its emergence in 1996 has become the longest persisting HPAI virus in history. HPAI viruses are generally restricted to domestic poultry populations, however, their origins are found in wild bird reservoirs (Anatidae waterfowl) in a low-pathogenic or non-lethal form. Understanding the spatial and temporal interface between wild and domestic populations is fundamental to taking action against the virus, yet this information is lacking. My dissertation takes two approaches to increase our understanding of wild bird and H5N1 transmission. The first includes a field component to track the migratory patterns of bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) and ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) from the large H5N1 outbreak at Qinghai Lake, China. The satellite telemetry study revealed a new migratory connection between Qinghai Lake and outbreak regions in Mongolia, and provided ecological data that supplements phylogenetic analyses of virus movement. The second component of my dissertation research took a modeling approach to identify areas of high transmission risk between domestic poultry and wild waterfowl in China, the epicenter of H5N1. This effort required the development of spatial models for both the poultry and wild waterfowl species of China. Using multivariate regression and AIC to determine statistical relationships between poultry census data and remotely-sensed environmental predictors, I generated spatially explicit distribution models for China's three main poultry species: chickens, ducks, and geese. I then developed spatially explicit breeding and wintering season models of presence-absence, abundance, and H5N1 prevalence for each of China's 42 Anatidae waterfowl species. The poultry and waterfowl datasets were used as the main inputs for the transmission risk models. Distinct patterns in both the spatial and temporal distributions of H5N1 risk was observed in the model predictions. All models included estimates of uncertainty, and sensitivity analyses were performed for the risk models

The sounds on the Silk Road from Xi'an to Urumqi. Soundscape, recording and exposition of the sound

[eng] The main objective of the doctoral thesis is to study the Soundscape in the Chinese route of the Silk Road based on the premises issued in 2003 by the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. In China, no application of this agreement has been used. The research proposed by the doctoral thesis is an important precedent in applying the guidelines concerning the study and preservation of intangible cultural heritage. The Silk Road represents the exchange and integration of Chinese and Western cultures, and its mysterious and remote atmosphere is fascinating. I have longed for the Silk Road since I was young. I was exposed to sound media art, soundscape maps, and sound sculpture research in the laboratory of Dr. Josep Cerda at the University of Barcelona. Finally, it presented the idea of applying sound media art to data analysis of the sound on the Silk Road and archival records. The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. UNESCO, at its 32nd meeting, held in Paris from September 29 to October 17, 2003. Approved the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage Intangible, the intergovernmental agreement that Recognizes that communities, groups, and individuals play an important role in the production, safeguarding, maintenance, and recreation of intangible cultural heritage, thereby contributing to enriching cultural diversity and human creativity. It considers the importance of the Soundscape as an exponent of cultural diversity. The General objective of this doctoral dissertation is to apply the intangible cultural heritage protection formulated by UNESCO to "Using sound media art to record and protect the sound landscape of typical areas on the Silk Road." Through a literature review of Western sound research and the current sound landscape research status in China, China is currently conducting sound landscape research and research on a certain designated area. Quantitative analysis exists, but there is no study on "The sounds on the Silk Road from Xi'an to Urumqi." The Silk Road is a vast area and has many research limitations in terms of geography. This research uses ethnographic research as the main research methodology, and finally determines the research site in China from Xi'an to Urumqi in Six specific regions. In Chinese history, the Silk Road started from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and ended in Xinjiang Province, the last region connecting China with Eurasia. I passed through the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan Province, the surround-ing areas of Mogao Grottoes in Gansu Province, and the surrounding regions of Qin- ghai Lake in Xining City Qinghai Province. As the gathering area of ethnic minorities in the southwest of China's Silk Road, Yunnan Province also includes this doctoral thesis research. Try to find the voices on the Silk Road that are most worthy of investigation and preservation, and conduct field investigations and quantitative analysis. The purpose of the research is to use a sound media library, soundscape map, and sound art museum display to reflect the ecological landscape environment of the Silk Road, the urban human environment, and the status quo of historical relics. Based on this, establish a sound landscape database. To form a digital map of the Soundscape, making it an important carrier for the protection and inheritance of the sound landscape on the Silk Road, as a basis for academic and theoretical research on protecting intangible cultural heritage on the Silk Road. The second objective of the research is to establish a sound media art laboratory and a sound documentation center in Shanghai Donghua University and Shanghai Arts & Design Academy, to supplement the current lack of sound media art as a research direction in design education in China. The third research goal is to apply future sound media art combined with big data artificial intelligence to serve society. Apply intelligent sound design as an essential means of exhibition and display and demonstrate in Chinese museums. In terms of research conclusions and social influence, this doctoral thesis puts forward for the first time "the application of sound media art to protect and inherit the soundscape of the Silk Road". First of all, a set of core methodology and research techniques in the research of this doctoral dissertation applied to the academic study of soundscape protection on the Silk Road. Due to the limitations of the research funding and time of the doctoral thesis, only investigate six important areas. I will not terminate this research because of the end of this paper. Researchers will continue to study some other sub-important regions of the Silk Road in China. This doctoral thesis will lay a theoretical foundation for China and the world to study the "Silk Road" soundscape research. Introduce the establishment method of sound media library into the design art education of Chinese colleges and universities. To make up for the lack of research in Chinese universities that specifically focus on sound art design instead of music theory research under art design research. The third is to create a sound media library and make an interactive multimedia map to be applied to the soundscape guide of the future cultural journey. Use digital media technology and sound media art principles to design a virtual interactive sound museum. Establish a complete set of sound expressions, protect and Inheriting the Soundscape of the Silk Road while driving the richness of cultural tourism in the southwest and northwest regions of China. The audience can understand the history and culture of the Silk Road through acoustic sensory experience in multiple dimensions.[spa] La finalidad de esta investigación es establecer un archivo sonoro de la Ruta de la Seda, en su recorrido en China, aplicando las directrices de la UNESCO, establecidas en la Convención para la Salvaguarda del Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial, a partir de una metodología teorico-práctica de recogida de datos mediante grabaciones de campo y geolocalizadas mediante mapas sonoros. A lo largo de los 5 años de investigación, se ha podido constatar la transformación cultural de la zona de estudio debido a la irrupción de las nuevas tecnologías y la creciente industrialización, aspectos que constatan la necesidad de este tipo de investigaciones que hemos llevado a cabo, ya que los sonidos tradicionales del paisaje sonoro de la Ruta de la Seda están en vías de desaparición, por lo tanto es muy importante preservarlos para el futuro mediante la creación de un archivo sonoro.. En la investigación se han introducido elementos tecnológicos importantes, sobre todo en lo que hace referencia en la exposición de los sonidos del paisaje sonoro y en el diseño de un espacio expositivo interactivo especialmente diseñado para presentar estos sonidos y demás aspectos de la tradición cultural y artesana de la Ruta de la seda. Se ha partido de los estudios realizados por el investigador canadiense R. Murray-Schafer que se desarrollaron en la década de los años 70 del siglo pasado en la Universidad Simon Fraser de Canadá, y que han ido evolucionando hasta la actualidad por las aportaciones sucesivas de I. Westercamp y B. Truaux, que dieron como resultado el Word Sounscape Project, que es el origen del trabajo de investigación que hemos llevado a cabo. Toda la investigación se ha llevado a cabo en el mismo lugar de estudio de la Ruta de la Seda, en su tramo Chino. La gran mayoría de las grabaciones de campo y las imágenes fotográficas, así como las entrevistas y diseño expositivo han sido llevadas a cabo por la autora. Así mismo cabe remarcar que el estudio de las fuentes bibliográficas se han realizado en la mayoría de las veces a partir de libros y artículos redactados en el idioma mandarín, por lo que la accesibilidad a las fuentes primarias, hacen de esta tesis un trabajo de investigación muy importante

The Socioeconomic and Ecological Drivers of Avian Influenza Risks in China and at the International Level

abstract: Avian influenzas are zoonoses, or pathogens borne by wildlife and livestock that can also infect people. In recent decades, and especially since the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in 1996, these diseases have become a significant threat to animal and public health across the world. HPAI H5N1 has caused severe damage to poultry populations, killing, or prompting the culling of, millions of birds in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It has also infected hundreds of people, with a mortality rate of approximately 50%. This dissertation focuses on the ecological and socioeconomic drivers of avian influenza risk, particularly in China, the most populous country to be infected. Among the most significant ecological risk factors are landscapes that serve as “mixing zones” for wild waterfowl and poultry, such as rice paddy, and nearby lakes and wetlands that are important breeding and wintering habitats for wild birds. Poultry outbreaks often involve cross infections between wild and domesticated birds. At the international level, trade in live poultry can spread the disease, especially if the imports are from countries not party to trade agreements with well-developed biosecurity standards. However, these risks can be mitigated in a number of ways. Protected habitats, such as Ramsar wetlands, can segregate wild bird and poultry populations, thereby lowering the chance of interspecies transmission. The industrialization of poultry production, while not without ethical and public health problems, can also be risk-reducing by causing wild-domestic segregation and allowing for the more efficient application of surveillance, vaccination, and other biosecurity measures. Disease surveillance is effective at preventing the spread of avian influenza, including across international borders. Economic modernization in general, as reflected in rising per-capita GDP, appears to mitigate avian influenza risks at both the national and sub-national levels. Poultry vaccination has been effective in many cases, but is an incomplete solution because of the practical difficulties of sustained and widespread implementation. The other popular approach to avian influenza control is culling, which can be highly expensive and raise ethical concerns about large-scale animal slaughter. Therefore, it is more economically efficient, and may even be more ethical, to target the socio-ecological drivers of avian influenza risks, including by implementing the policies discussed here.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Biology 201

Opening Pandora's Box at the Roof of the World : The Past and Present of Avian Influenza Science

By means of a case study and historical analysis, this dissertation examines the past and present of avian influenza. By integrating disconnected histories of human and animal influenza, this dissertation links historical insights with the concerns of contemporary avian flu science. It is not only a natural history of avian influenza but also a snapshot of avian flu science in progress. To understand human influenza, its path and potential, one must be aware of how avian influenza viruses came to play such a central role in human influenza ecology. Building on a history of influenza in both its human and avian forms, a contemporary case study examines the unprecedented emergence of an avian virus among wild birds on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (Roof of the World) beginning in 2005. Events at Qinghai stimulated an interdisciplinary and international approach among researchers, and accelerated the use of technological tools to track avian influenza. Evidence suggests that the escalation of global bird flu events is not merely a matter of chance mutations in flu viruses but is the result of antecedent conditions related to human activities. Events and science at Qinghai serve as real-world examples to understand avian influenza and to envision the unintended consequences of human and natural forces over the coming decades. This synthesis of avian influenza history and science can serve as a resource for historians of medicine, environmental historians, biologists, virologists, ecologists, and the broader public

Climate Change Hastens the Conservation Urgency of an Endangered Ungulate

Global climate change appears to be one of the main threats to biodiversity in the near future and is already affecting the distribution of many species. Currently threatened species are a special concern while the extent to which they are sensitive to climate change remains uncertain. Przewalski's gazelle (Procapra przewalskii) is classified as endangered and a conservation focus on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Using measures of species range shift, we explored how the distribution of Przewalski's gazelle may be impacted by projected climate change based on a maximum entropy approach. We also evaluated the uncertainty in the projections of the risks arising from climate change. Modeling predicted the Przewalski's gazelle would be sensitive to future climate change. As the time horizon increased, the strength of effects from climate change increased. Even assuming unlimited dispersal capacity of gazelles, a moderate decrease to complete loss of range was projected by 2080 under different thresholds for transforming the probability prediction to presence/absence data. Current localities of gazelles will undergo a decrease in their occurrence probability. Projections of the impacts of climate change were significantly affected by thresholds and general circulation models. This study suggests climate change clearly poses a severe threat and increases the extinction risk to Przewalski's gazelle. Our findings 1) confirm that endangered endemic species is highly vulnerable to climate change and 2) highlight the fact that forecasting impacts of climate change needs an assessment of the uncertainty. It is extremely important that conservation strategies consider the predicted geographical shifts and be planned with full knowledge of the reliability of projected impacts of climate change

Refuge Update – May/June 2008, Volume 5, Number 3

Table of Contents: Liberating Rat Island, page 4 Focus on . . . Through the Eyes of Children, pages 10-19 Back to Midway, page 2