ABSTRACT
Intro: Coronaviruses infect humans and a wide range of wild and domestic animals. Some CoVs could be zoonotic, being able to mutate, crossing the species barrier and infecting humans (e.g. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV). Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, several studies were carried out to ascertain the susceptibility of both domestic and wild animals to SARS-CoV-2. However, information on some species is lacking, and for others only RDB-ACE receptor affinity studies have been carried out. Considering the high densities of Marmota marmota in the alpine environment, where livestock and recreational activities are commonly present, this study aims to investigate the presence and characterization of CoVs in this species. Method(s): During provincial relocation plan carried out in 2021 and 2022, 170 alpine marmots were captured in municipality of Livigno in Sondrio province (North-Italy) for decreasing animal density and, after a quarantine period, they were released in other alpine places. Faecal samples were collected from each animal and then subjected to RNA extraction and nested RT-PCR pan-Coronavirus and real time RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2. PCR positive samples for pan-CoV were then sequenced. Finding(s): The pan-Coronavirus RT-PCR detected CoVs in seven marmots. The CoV sequence originating from one marmot sampled in 2021 had 97% affinity to strains isolated in lagomorphs. The other six sequences from 2022 were highly correlate with Bovine Beta-CoVs. This could be explained by the fact that marmots share alpine pastures with these species;in fact, the trapping area in 2022 represented grazing and forage production areas. All samples tested for SARS-CoV-2 resulted negative. Conclusion(s): Despite the absence of zoonotic coronaviruses, marmots show high plasticity in harbouring CoVs of sympatric species. For this reason, and considering the affinity of their ACE-receptor demonstrated for SARS-CoV, it would be worthwhile to increase surveillance for CoVs in this species.Copyright © 2023
ABSTRACT
Long-term spatiotemporal Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) analysis is an objective tool for assessing patterns of sustainable development (SD). The basic purpose of this research is to define the Driving Mechanisms (DM) and assess the trend of SD in the Burabay district (Kazakhstan), which includes a city, an agro-industrial complex, and a national natural park, based on the integrated use of spatiotemporal data (STD), economic, environmental, and social (EES) indicators. The research was performed on the GEE platform using Landsat and Random Forest. The DM were studied by Multiple Linear Regression and Principal Component Analysis. SD trend was assessed through sequential transformations, aggregations, and integrations of 36 original STD and EES indicators. The overall classification accuracy was 0.85–0.97. Over the past 23 years, pasture area has changed the most (−16.69%), followed by arable land (+14.72%), forest area increased slightly (+1.81%), and built-up land—only +0.16%. The DM of development of the AOI are mainly economic components. There has been a noticeable drop in the development growth of the study area in 2021, which is apparently a consequence of the COVID-19. The upshots of the research can serve as a foundation for evaluating SD and LULC policy.
ABSTRACT
Cyril Ferrand, FAO resilience team leader for East Africa Swarms have “been damaging crops and pastures and crippling communities in the Greater Horn of Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Southwest Asia” since October, explained World Resources Institute climate programme research analyst Tina Huang. See PDF] FAO desert locust global forecast May-July 2020 The level of threat in West Africa could also change significantly in the next few weeks based on rainfall, winds and the locust situation in Arabia and East Africa, the FAO says. “The biggest challenge we are facing at the moment is the supply of pesticides and we have delays because global air freight has been reduced significantly,” says Cyril Ferrand, the FAO's resilience team leader for East Africa.
ABSTRACT
Even though forage and grazing lands represent the largest land use in the United States, the number of forage faculty positions nationwide has decreased by 47% in the last 15 years, with only an estimated 2.3 forage research and Extension full-time equivalents (FTE) per state. This challenge has made partnerships with county/regional agents and Extension faculty from other states an increasingly important component of a successful Extension program. Whereas virtual/online programs existed prior to 2020, people of all ages are currently more comfortable and adept with virtual technology because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moving forward, virtual meetings and hybrid meetings will likely become more routine, making it possible to disseminate knowledge to producers locally and across the state, region, and country concurrently. This approach will enable Extension educators to be more efficient in their knowledge transfer as illustrated by programs such as the Bermudagrass Hay Summit which has seen an almost six-fold increase in attendance from 2020 to 2021 because travel is not required. Lastly, there is a largely untapped opportunity in on-farm demonstrations and research. An example of how this can positively affect adoption of new technology is the regional program Alfalfa in the South. This program combines both on-farm and experiment station research. As a result of on-farm demonstrations, producer interest in adoption of alfalfa across Alabama and Georgia has increased in the last 3 years. There are many challenges to Extension programming in forages, but there are also ample opportunities to partner with other state Extension programs, as well as with producers to disseminate forage and pasture management effectively and efficiently to the forage and livestock sectors across the United States.
ABSTRACT
The aboveground biomass of dry knotweed was administered daily to large groups of young (1- to 3-year-old) stallions of the Czech Warmblood, Czech-Moravian Coldblood and Silesian Norik breeds, fed individually for 4 and 6 months in two successive winter experiments. Their fitness was compared with control groups consisting of equally numerous subgroups comparable in age, breed, body mass and initial blood parameters. The effects of knotweed on the horses’ fitness were evaluated based on changes in blood characteristics. Even if administered in small amounts, 150 g per day, knotweed could (1) increase the thrombocyte numbers, (2) increase the globulin content (thus improving the horses’ immunity, which is desired in large groups of animals), (3) stimulate lipid metabolism in cold-blooded horses and (4) decrease the concentration of cholesterol. The long-lasting effect of knotweed on both the urea and triglyceride–cholesterol ratio presumably reflected, between the two experiments, the temporary protein starvation of horses on pastures with poor quality of grass in a dry summer.