Dataset Information

Ecological suitability modeling for anthrax in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

ABSTRACT: The spores of the soil-borne bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax are highly resistant to adverse environmental conditions. Under ideal conditions, anthrax spores can survive for many years in the soil. Anthrax is known to be endemic in the northern part of Kruger National Park (KNP) in South Africa (SA), with occasional epidemics spreading southward. The aim of this study was to identify and map areas that are ecologically suitable for the harboring of B. anthracis spores within the KNP. Anthrax surveillance data and selected environmental variables were used as inputs to the maximum entropy (Maxent) species distribution modeling method. Anthrax positive carcasses from 1988-2011 in KNP (n = 597) and a total of 40 environmental variables were used to predict and evaluate their relative contribution to suitability for anthrax occurrence in KNP. The environmental variables that contributed the most to the occurrence of anthrax were soil type, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and precipitation. Apart from the endemic Pafuri region, several other areas within KNP were classified as ecologically suitable. The outputs of this study could guide future surveillance efforts to focus on predicted suitable areas for anthrax, since the KNP currently uses passive surveillance to detect anthrax outbreaks.

SUBMITTER: Steenkamp PJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5788353 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Ecological suitability modeling for anthrax in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Steenkamp Pieter Johan PJ van Heerden Henriette H van Schalkwyk Ockert Louis OL

PloS one 20180129 1

The spores of the soil-borne bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax are highly resistant to adverse environmental conditions. Under ideal conditions, anthrax spores can survive for many years in the soil. Anthrax is known to be endemic in the northern part of Kruger National Park (KNP) in South Africa (SA), with occasional epidemics spreading southward. The aim of this study was to identify and map areas that are ecologically suitable for the harboring of B. anthracis spores within ...[more]

PMID: 29377918

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Project description:Savannas cover at least 13% of the global terrestrial surface and are often nutrient limited, especially by nitrogen. To gain a better understanding of their microbial diversity and the microbial nitrogen cycling in savanna soils, soil samples were collected along a granitic and a basaltic catena in Kruger National Park (South Africa) to characterize their bacterial and archaeal composition and the genetic potential for nitrification. Although the basaltic soils were on average 5 times more nutrient rich than the granitic soils, all investigated savanna soil samples showed typically low nutrient availabilities, i.e., up to 38 times lower soil N or C contents than temperate grasslands. Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing revealed a unique soil bacterial community dominated by Actinobacteria (20-66%), Chloroflexi (9-29%), and Firmicutes (7-42%) and an increase in the relative abundance of Actinobacteria with increasing soil nutrient content. The archaeal community reached up to 14% of the total soil microbial community and was dominated by the thaumarchaeal Soil Crenarchaeotic Group (43-99.8%), with a high fraction of sequences related to the ammonia-oxidizing genus Nitrosopshaera sp. Quantitative PCR targeting amoA genes encoding the alpha subunit of ammonia monooxygenase also revealed a high genetic potential for ammonia oxidation dominated by archaea (~5 × 107 archaeal amoA gene copies g-1 soil vs. mostly < 7 × 104 bacterial amoA gene copies g-1 soil). Abundances of archaeal 16S rRNA and amoA genes were positively correlated with soil nitrate, N and C contents. Nitrospira sp. was detected as the most abundant group of nitrite oxidizing bacteria. The specific geochemical conditions and particle transport dynamics at the granitic catena were found to affect soil microbial communities through clay and nutrient relocation along the hill slope, causing a shift to different, less diverse bacterial and archaeal communities at the footslope. Overall, our results suggest a strong effect of the savanna soils' nutrient scarcity on all microbial communities, resulting in a distinct community structure that differs markedly from nutrient-rich, temperate grasslands, along with a high relevance of archaeal ammonia oxidation in savanna soils.

Dataset Information

Ecological suitability modeling for anthrax in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Publications

Ecological suitability modeling for anthrax in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Similar Datasets

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