Global threats from invasive alien species in the twenty-first century and national response capacities.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Early R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4996970 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Due to the relevance of protected areas to the conservation of native biota, the magnitude of invasions and threats posed by alien plants are currently important issues for the preservation of these areas. The paper summarises data on invasive alien plant species presence in the most valuable protected areas in Poland, i.e. national parks (NPs). We investigated the distribution of invasive alien plant species and management attempts concerning those species. We analysed data obtained from 23 national parks originating from published and unpublished sources. Invasive plants were present in all protected areas analysed, from two to 42 species in a particular national park, and 68 in total. The most widely distributed species were: Impatiens parviflora (present in 19 NPs), I. glandulifera (17), Solidago gigantea (17), Reynoutria japonica (17), and Robinia pseudoacacia (16). The conducted analyses showed that the number of invasive species decreased with the higher altitude (asl) of the national park. The most often managed species were Impatiens glandulifera (being removed in seven NPs), I. parviflora (six), Padus serotina (four) and Quercus rubra (four). In the majority of NPs, control activities are limited to small areas and singular species, thus having an incidental character. Only in five objects (Bia?owie?a NP, Biebrza NP, Kampinos NP, Tuchola NP, Wigry NP), management has been focused on several species. We conclude that a lack of comprehensive management of invasive plant species in the majority of national parks currently limits the effectiveness of IAS (invasive alien species) eradication. Exchange of expertise among protected areas, documenting best practice examples, synthesising lessons learnt in IAS management, as well as the development of minimum standards for invasive plants surveillance and management are pivotal.
| S-EPMC6913259 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Biological invasions have emerged as an eminent feature of global change, with substantial impacts on the environment and human livelihoods. Current research demonstrates that the numbers and impacts of alien species are rising unabatedly. At the same time, we lack a thorough understanding of potential future trajectories for the decades to come. With the recent establishment of comprehensive global databases, it is, for the first time, feasible to develop and quantify future scenarios of biological invasions. Therefore, we propose a conceptual framework for how to develop alien species scenarios for the twenty-first century and how to identify relevant steps and challenges along the way. The concept will be important to inform research, policy, stakeholders, and the general public. Furthermore, we call for the scientific community to join forces and to operationalize the framework for scenarios and models of biological invasions to develop an important baseline for understanding and managing future biological invasions.
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Project description:Anthropogenic climate change is expected to have major impacts on domesticated livestock, including increased heat stress in animals in both intensive and extensive livestock systems. We estimate the changes in the number of extreme heat stress days per year for animals raised outdoors that can be expected in the major domesticated animal species (cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, and pigs) across the globe during this century. We used the temperature humidity index as a proxy for heat stress, calculated using temperature and relative humidity data collated from an ensemble of CMIP6 climate model output for mid and end century. We estimate changes in the proportions of different livestock species that may be at increased risk of extreme heat stress under two contrasting greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Results are discussed in relation to changes in the suitability of different climate conditions for domesticated livestock during the current century. We find that by end century, extreme heat stress risk is projected to increase for all livestock species in many parts of the tropics and some of the temperate zones, and to become climatically more widespread, compared to 2000. Although adaptation options exist for both intensive and extensive livestock production systems, the increasing pervasiveness of extreme heat stress risk in the future will seriously challenge the viability of outdoor livestock keeping, particularly in the lower latitudes in lower and middle-income countries where the costs of adaptation may be challenging to address.
| S-EPMC9292043 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recognizing that tuberculosis (TB) is still the leading cause of human death from a curable infection, the international health community has set ambitious targets for disease control. One target is to eliminate TB by 2050; that is, to cut the annual incidence of new cases to less than 1 per million population. National TB control programmes are working to eliminate TB mainly by intensifying efforts to find and cure patients with active disease. Here, we use mathematical modelling to show that, while most TB patients can be cured with present drug regimens, the 2050 target is far more likely to be achieved with a combination of diagnostics, drugs and vaccines that can detect and treat both latent infection and active disease. We find that the coupling of control methods is particularly effective because treatments for latent infection and active disease act in synergy. This synergistic effect offers new perspectives on the cost-effectiveness of treating latent TB infection and the impact of possible new TB vaccines. Our results should be a stimulus to those who develop, manufacture and implement new technology for TB control, and to their financial donors.
| S-EPMC3226985 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a chronic valvular disease resulting after severe or repetitive episodes of acute rheumatic fever (ARF), an autoimmune response to group A Streptococcus infection. RHD has been almost eliminated with improved social and health infrastructure in affluent countries while it remains a neglected disease with major cause of morbidity and mortality in many low- and middle-income countries, and resource-limited regions of high-income countries. Despite our evolving understanding of the pathogenesis of RHD, there have not been any significant advances to prevent or halt progression of disease in recent history. Long-term penicillin-based treatment and surgery remain the backbone of a RHD control program in the absence of an effective vaccine. The advent of echocardiographic screening algorithms has improved the accuracy of diagnosing RHD and has shed light on the enormous burden of disease. Encouragingly, this has led to a rekindled commitment from researchers in the most affected countries to advocate and take bold actions to end this disease of social inequality.
| S-EPMC9067597 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundStrong growth of interdisciplinary sciences might find exceptional example in academic health economics. We decided to observe the quantitative output in this science since the beginning of the twenty-first century.MethodsElectronic search of the published literature was conducted in four different databases: one medical database-MEDLINE/PubMed, two general databases-Scopus/Elsevier and Web of Science (WoS), and one specialized health economic database-NHS Economic Evaluation Database (EED). The applied combination of key words was carefully chosen to cover the most commonly used terms in titles of publications dealing with conceptual areas of health economics. All bibliographic units were taken into account.ResultsWithin the time horizon from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2016, without language or limitations on bibliographic unit types, we identified an output ranging approximately from 60,345 to 88,246 records with applied search strategy in MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus/Elsevier, and WoS. In NHS EED, we detected 14,761 records of economic evaluations of health interventions during the period in which database was maintained and regularly updated. With slightly more than one-third of the identified records, USA clearly dominates in this field. United Kingdom takes a strong second place with about 12% of identified records. Consistently, USA and UK universities are the most frequent among the top 15 affiliations/organizations of the authors of the identified records. Authors from Harvard University contributed to the largest number of the identified records.ConclusionThere is a clear evidence of both the upward stream of blossoming in health economics publications and its acceleration. Based on this bibliographic data set, it is difficult to distinguish the actual impact growth of this output provided dominantly by academia with modest contribution by pharmaceutical/medicinal device industry and diverse national government-based agencies. Further insight into the citation track record of these individual publications could provide helpful upgrade and a perspective on ongoing development.
| S-EPMC5554506 | biostudies-literature
Project description:There is a growing need to develop novel processes to recover lead from end-of-life lead-acid batteries, due to increasing energy costs of pyrometallurgical lead recovery, the resulting CO2 emissions and the catastrophic health implications of lead exposure from lead-to-air emissions. To address these issues, we are developing an iono-metallurgical process, aiming to displace the pyrometallurgical process that has dominated lead production for millennia. The proposed process involves the dissolution of Pb salts into the deep eutectic solvent (DES) Ethaline 200, a liquid formed when a 1 : 2 molar ratio of choline chloride and ethylene glycol are mixed together. Once dissolved, the Pb can be recovered through electrodeposition and the liquid can then be recycled for further Pb recycling. Firstly, DESs are being used to dissolve the lead compounds (PbCO3, PbO, PbO2 and PbSO4) involved and their solubilities measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The resulting Pb2+ species are then reduced and electrodeposited as elemental lead at the cathode of an electrochemical cell; cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry are being used to determine the electrodeposition behaviour and mechanism. The electrodeposited films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We discuss the implications and opportunities of such processes.
| S-EPMC5990833 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Should the tape of life be replayed, would it produce similar living beings? A classical answer has long been 'no', but accumulating data are now challenging this view. Repeatability in experimental evolution, in phenotypic evolution of diverse species and in the genes underlying phenotypic evolution indicates that despite unpredictability at the level of basic evolutionary processes (such as apparition of mutations), a certain kind of predictability can emerge at higher levels over long time periods. For instance, a survey of the alleles described in the literature that cause non-deleterious phenotypic differences among animals, plants and yeasts indicates that similar phenotypes have often evolved in distinct taxa through independent mutations in the same genes. Does this mean that the range of possibilities for evolution is limited? Does this mean that we can predict the outcomes of a replayed tape of life? Imagining other possible paths for evolution runs into four important issues: (i) resolving the influence of contingency, (ii) imagining living organisms that are different from the ones we know, (iii) finding the relevant concepts for predicting evolution, and (iv) estimating the probability of occurrence for complex evolutionary events that occurred only once during the evolution of life on earth.
| S-EPMC4633862 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe establishment rate of invasive alien insect species has been increasing worldwide during the past century. This trend has been widely attributed to increased rates of international trade and associated species introductions, but rarely linked to environmental change. To better understand and manage the bioinvasion process, it is crucial to understand the relationship between global warming and establishment rate of invasive alien species, especially for poikilothermic invaders such as insects.Methodology/principal findingsWe present data that demonstrate a significant positive relationship between the change in average annual surface air temperature and the establishment rate of invasive alien insects in mainland China during 1900-2005. This relationship was modeled by regression analysis, and indicated that a 1 °C increase in average annual surface temperature in mainland China was associated with an increase in the establishment rate of invasive alien insects of about 0.5 species year?¹. The relationship between rising surface air temperature and increasing establishment rate remained significant even after accounting for increases in international trade during the period 1950-2005. Moreover, similar relationships were detected using additional data from the United Kingdom and the contiguous United States.Conclusions/significanceThese findings suggest that the perceived increase in establishments of invasive alien insects can be explained only in part by an increase in introduction rate or propagule pressure. Besides increasing propagule pressure, global warming is another driver that could favor worldwide bioinvasions. Our study highlights the need to consider global warming when designing strategies and policies to deal with bioinvasions.
| S-EPMC3169637 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Blood transfusions are vital components of modern medical treatment to which there is no viable alternative despite efforts to create artificial blood. Each year thousands of lives are saved by blood transfusions in every country of the world. However, blood and blood products can result in significant adverse events including immunologic reactions, infections, inefficacy, and others which can sometimes result in death and severe disability. Thus, the sustainability of safe blood systems and costs are considered to be at crisis level. In industrialized countries, the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections such as HIV, syphilis, hepatitis viruses B and C are very low [generally [<1 in a million units], but in developing countries [especially in Africa] blood safety is still not assured. Compounding the problem of blood/product safety with respect to infectious agents are new emerging infectious microbes that are not being routinely tested for in blood that are donated. This chapter reviews the infectious risk of blood transfusions, types, mode and geographic variation, and the methods being used by blood services to attenuate and prevent these risks.
| S-EPMC7120358 | biostudies-literature