Assessing the origins of the European Plagues following the Black Death: A synthesis of genomic, historical, and ecological information.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Bramanti B
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8433512 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Although recent work has begun to establish that early modern plagues had selective mortality effects, it was generally accepted that the initial outbreak of Black Death in 1347-52 was a "universal killer." Recent bioarchaeological work, however, has argued that the Black Death was also selective with regard to age and pre-plague health status. The issue of the Black Death's potential sex selectivity is less clear. Bioarchaeological research hypothesizes that sex-selection in mortality was possible during the initial Black Death outbreak, and we present evidence from historical sources to test this notion.ObjectiveTo determine whether the Black Death and recurring plagues in the period 1349-1450 had a sex-selective mortality effect.Materials and methodsWe present a newly compiled database of mortality information taken from mortmain records in Hainaut, Belgium, in the period 1349-1450, which not only is an important new source of information on medieval mortality, but also allows for sex-disaggregation.ResultsWe find that the Black Death period of 1349-51, as well as recurring plagues in the 100 years up to 1450, often had a sex-selective effect-killing more women than in "non-plague years."DiscussionAlthough much research tends to suggest that men are more susceptible to a variety of diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites, we cannot assume that the same direction of sex-selection in mortality applied to diseases in the distant past such as Second Pandemic plagues. While the exact reasons for the sex-selective effect of late-medieval plague are unclear in the absence of further data, we suggest that simple inequities between the sexes in exposure to the disease may not have been a key driver.
| S-EPMC6667914 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Ecotonal zones between eastern semi-arid steppes and Nothofagus spp. forests in western Patagonia are the result of broad ecosystem changes, which have intensified in the last 140 years. Our objectives were to determine historical changes in land use, land cover, and forces driving such changes in Nothofagus ecosystems in the Río Verde district in southern Chile, to support future management recommendations. This interdisciplinary study used historical records including scientific and military expeditions, Landsat imagery, and other archival sources. Forest cover changed radically between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, from subsistence use by indigenous peoples, to forestry and livestock industries. The main driving forces of landscape change have been anthropogenic forest fires, logging, exotic pasture establishment, and mining. Future perspectives suggest that conserving the cultural values and natural resources of this region will depend on ecologically sound landscape planning, reversing forest fragmentation, restoring riparian corridors, and preserving indigenous archaeological sites.
| S-EPMC7028889 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesThis work was designed to adapt Geographical Information System-based spatial analysis to the study of historical epidemics. We mapped "plague" deaths during three epidemics of the early 15th century, analyzed spatial distributions by applying the Kulldorff's method, and determined their relationships with the distribution of socio-professional categories in the city of Dijon.Materials and methodsOur study was based on a database including 50 annual tax registers (established from 1376 to 1447) indicating deaths and survivors among the heads of households, their home location, tax level and profession. The households of the deceased and survivors during 6 years with excess mortality were individually located on a georeferenced medieval map, established by taking advantage of the preserved geography of the historical center of Dijon. We searched for clusters of heads of households characterized by shared tax levels (high-tax payers, the upper decile; low-tax payers, the half charged at the minimum level) or professional activities and for clusters of differential mortality.ResultsHigh-tax payers were preferentially in the northern intramural part, as well as most wealthy or specialized professionals, whereas low-tax payers were preferentially in the southern part. During two epidemics, in 1400-1401 and 1428, areas of higher mortality were found in the northern part whereas areas of lower mortality were in the southern one. A high concentration of housing and the proximity to food stocks were common features of the most affected areas, creating suitable conditions for rats to pullulate. A third epidemic, lasting from 1438 to 1440 had a different and evolving geography: cases were initially concentrated around the southern gate, at the confluence of three rivers, they were then diffuse, and ended with residual foci of deaths in the northern suburb.ConclusionUsing a selected historical source, we designed an approach allowing spatial analysis of urban medieval epidemics. Our results fit with the view that the 1400-1401 epidemic was a Black Death recurrence. They suggest that this was also the case in 1428, whereas in 1438-1440 a different, possibly waterborne, disease was involved.
| S-EPMC4666600 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Centuries of zoological studies have amassed billions of specimens in collections worldwide. Genomics of these specimens promises to reinvigorate biodiversity research. However, because DNA degrades with age in historical specimens, it is a challenge to obtain genomic data for them and analyze degraded genomes. We developed experimental and computational protocols to overcome these challenges and applied our methods to resolve a series of long-standing controversies involving a group of butterflies. We deduced the geographical origins of several historical specimens of uncertain provenance that are at the heart of these debates. Here, genomics tackles one of the greatest problems in zoology: countless old specimens that serve as irreplaceable embodiments of species concepts cannot be confidently assigned to extant species or population due to the lack of diagnostic morphological features and clear documentation of the collection locality. The ability to determine where they were collected will resolve many on-going disputes. More broadly, we show the utility of applying genomics to historical museum specimens to delineate the boundaries of species and populations, and to hypothesize about genotypic determinants of phenotypic traits.
| S-EPMC8097301 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Lead pollution in Arctic ice reflects midlatitude emissions from ancient lead-silver mining and smelting. The few reported measurements have been extrapolated to infer the performance of ancient economies, including comparisons of economic productivity and growth during the Roman Republican and Imperial periods. These studies were based on sparse sampling and inaccurate dating, limiting understanding of trends and specific linkages. Here we show, using a precisely dated record of estimated lead emissions between 1100 BCE and 800 CE derived from subannually resolved measurements in Greenland ice and detailed atmospheric transport modeling, that annual European lead emissions closely varied with historical events, including imperial expansion, wars, and major plagues. Emissions rose coeval with Phoenician expansion, accelerated during expanded Carthaginian and Roman mining primarily in the Iberian Peninsula, and reached a maximum under the Roman Empire. Emissions fluctuated synchronously with wars and political instability particularly during the Roman Republic, and plunged coincident with two major plagues in the second and third centuries, remaining low for >500 years. Bullion in silver coinage declined in parallel, reflecting the importance of lead-silver mining in ancient economies. Our results indicate sustained economic growth during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire, terminated by the second-century Antonine plague.
| S-EPMC5984509 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Conventional markets can underprovide ecosystem services. Deliberate creation of a market for ecosystem services [e.g., a payments for ecosystem services (PES) scheme] can close the gap. The new ecosystem service market alters behaviors and quantities of ecosystem service provided and reveals prices for the ecosystems service: a market-clearing equilibrium. Assessing the potential for PES programs, which often act as ecological infrastructure investment mechanisms, requires forecasting the market-clearing equilibrium. Forecasting the equilibrium is complicated, especially at relevant social and ecological scales. It requires greater disciplinary integration than valuing ecosystem services or computing the marginal cost of making a land-use change to produce a service. We conduct an ex ante benefit-cost assessment and forecast market-clearing prices and quantities for ecological infrastructure investment contracts in the Panama Canal Watershed. The Panama Canal Authority could offer contracts to private farmers to change land use to increase dry-season water flow and reduce sedimentation. A feasible voluntary contracting system yields a small program of about 1,840 ha of land conversion in a 279,000-ha watershed and generates a 4.9 benefit-cost ratio. Physical and social constraints limit market supply and scalability. Service delays, caused by lags between the time payments must be made and the time services stemming from ecosystem change are realized, hinder program feasibility. Targeting opportunities raise the benefit-cost ratio but reduce the hectares likely to be converted. We compare and contrast our results with prior state-of-the-art assessments on this system.
| S-EPMC6431190 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Historically, many biologists assumed that evolution and ecology acted independently because evolution occurred over distances too great to influence most ecological patterns. Today, evidence indicates that evolution can operate over a range of spatial scales, including fine spatial scales. Thus, evolutionary divergence across space might frequently interact with the mechanisms that also determine spatial ecological patterns. Here, we synthesize insights from 500 eco-evolutionary studies and develop a predictive framework that seeks to understand whether and when evolution amplifies, dampens, or creates ecological patterns. We demonstrate that local adaptation can alter everything from spatial variation in population abundances to ecosystem properties. We uncover 14 mechanisms that can mediate the outcome of evolution on spatial ecological patterns. Sometimes, evolution amplifies environmental variation, especially when selection enhances resource uptake or patch selection. The local evolution of foundation or keystone species can create ecological patterns where none existed originally. However, most often, we find that evolution dampens existing environmental gradients, because local adaptation evens out fitness across environments and thus counteracts the variation in associated ecological patterns. Consequently, evolution generally smooths out the underlying heterogeneity in nature, making the world appear less ragged than it would be in the absence of evolution. We end by highlighting the future research needed to inform a fully integrated and predictive biology that accounts for eco-evolutionary interactions in both space and time.
| S-EPMC7395528 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hesperia butterflies Genome sequencing and assembly
| PRJNA698011 | ENA
Project description:A large literature documents how intergenerational mobility-the degree to which (dis)advantage is passed on from parents to children-varies across and within countries. Less is known about the origin or persistence of such differences. We show that US areas populated by descendants to European immigrants have similar levels of income equality and mobility as the countries their forebears came from: highest in areas dominated by descendants to Scandinavian and German immigrants, lower in places with French or Italian heritage, and lower still in areas with British roots. Similar variation in mobility is found for the black population and when analyzing causal place effects, suggesting that mobility differences arise at the community level and extend beyond descendants of European immigrant groups. Our findings indicate that the geography of US opportunity may have deeper historical roots than previously recognized.
| S-EPMC6442551 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSuicide is the third leading cause of death among Black adults aged 18-35 years. Although men represent a majority of suicide deaths among Black adults, less is known regarding the extent to which unique cultural stressors, such as racism-related stress (eg, racial discrimination), are salient in exacerbating suicide risk among Black men. Moreover, few studies examine the daily influence of racism-related stressors on suicide outcomes using real-time smartphone-based approaches. Smartphone-based mobile health approaches using ecological momentary assessments (EMA) provide an opportunity to assess and characterize racism-related stressors as a culturally sensitive suicide risk factor among Black young adult men.ObjectiveThe goal of this study is to describe a protocol development process that aims to capture real-time racism-related stressors and suicide outcomes using a smartphone-based EMA platform (MetricWire).MethodsGuided by the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (ITS), we developed a brief EMA protocol using a multiphased approach. First, we conducted a literature review to identify brief measures previously used in EMA studies, with special emphasis on studies including Black participants. The identified measures were then shortened to items with the highest construct validity (eg, factor loadings) and revised to reflect momentary or daily frequency. Feasibility and acceptability of the study protocol will be assessed using self-report survey and qualitative responses. To protect participants from harm, a three-tier safety protocol was developed to identify participants with moderate, elevated, and acute risk based on EMA survey response to trigger outreach by the study coordinator.ResultsThe final EMA protocol, which will be completed over a 7-day period, is comprised of 15 questions administered 4 times per day and a daily questionnaire of 22 items related to sleep-related impairment and disruption, as well as racism-related stress. Study recruitment is currently underway. We anticipate the study will be completed in February 2023. Dissemination will be conducted through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.ConclusionsThis protocol will address gaps in our understanding of Black men's suicide outcomes in the social contexts that they regularly navigate and will clarify the temporal role of racism-related stressors that influence suicidal outcomes.International registered report identifier (irrid)PRR1-10.2196/31241.
| S-EPMC8567147 | biostudies-literature