Beveridge, W. I. (1993). Unravelling the ecology of influenza A virus. Hist Philos Life Sci, 15(1), 23–32.
Abstract: For 20 years after the influenza A virus was discovered in the early 1930s, it was believed to be almost exclusively a human virus. But in the 1950s closely related viruses were discovered in diseases of horses, pigs and birds. Subsequently influenza A viruses were found to occur frequently in many species of birds, particularly ducks, usually without causing disease. Researchers showed that human and animal strains can hybridise thus producing new strains. Such hybrids may be the cause of pandemics in man. Most pandemics have started in China or eastern Russia where many people are in intimate association with animals. This situation provides a breeding ground for new strains of influenza A virus.
|
Boyd, R., & Richerson, P. J. (1995). Why does culture increase human adaptability? Ethol. a. Sociob., 16(2), 125–143.
Abstract: It is often argued that culture is adaptive because it allows people to acquire useful information without costly learning. In a recent paper Rogers (1989) analyzed a simple mathematical model that showed that this argument is wrong. Here we show that Rogers' result is robust. As long as the only benefit of social learning is that imitators avoid learning costs, social learning does not increase average fitness. However, we also show that social learning can be adaptive if it makes individual learning more accurate or less costly.
|
|
Chmel, L., Hasilikova, A., Hrasko, J., & Vlacilikova, A. (1972). The influence of some ecological factors on keratinophilic fungi in the soil. Sabouraudia, 10(1), 26–34.
|
Clark, T. B., Peterson, B. V., Whitcomb, R. F., Henegar, R. B., Hackett, K. J., & Tully, J. G. (1984). Spiroplasmas in the Tabanidae. Isr J Med Sci, 20(10), 1002–1005.
Abstract: Spiroplasmas were observed in seven species of the family Tabanidae (horse flies and deer flies). This is the fifth family of the order Diptera now known to harbor spiroplasmas. Noncultivable spiroplasmas were seen in the hemolymph of three species of the genus Tabanus, and cultivable forms were isolated from the guts of six species in three genera. Isolates from T. calens and T. sulcifrons were serologically similar and closely related to a spiroplasma in the lampyrid beetle, Ellychnia corrusca. These three isolates represent a new serogroup. Isolates from Hybomitra lasiophthalma were related to Group IV strains, while those from T. nigrovittatus and Chrysops sp. both represented new serogroups. At least some tabanids probably acquire spiroplasmas from contaminated flower surfaces. The possibility of vertebrate reservoirs for some tabanid spiroplasmas remains an open question.
|
Crans, W. J., McNelly, J., Schulze, T. L., & Main, A. (1986). Isolation of eastern equine encephalitis virus from Aedes sollicitans during an epizootic in southern New Jersey. J Am Mosq Control Assoc, 2(1), 68–72.
Abstract: Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEE) was isolated from the salt marsh mosquito, Aedes sollicitans, collected from coastal areas of New Jersey on 3 occasions during the late summer and fall of 1982. The isolations were made at a time when local Culiseta melanura were either undergoing a population increase or exhibiting high levels of EEE virus. Although no human cases were reported during the epizootic period, the data lend support to the hypothesis that Ae. sollicitans is capable of functioning as an epidemic vector in the coastal areas of New Jersey where human cases of EEE have been most common.
|
|
Davies, R. B., & Clark, G. G. (1974). Trypanosomes from elk and horse flies in New Mexico. J Wildl Dis, 10(1), 63–65.
|
Dowdle, W. R., & Schild, G. C. (1976). Influenza: its antigenic variation and ecology. Bull Pan Am Health Organ, 10(3), 193–195.
Abstract: Influenza viruses have two surface antigens, the glycoprotein structures hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Antibodies to each of these are associated with immunity, but the structures themselves are antigenically variable. When an antigenic change is gradual over time it is referred to as a drift, while a sudden complete or major change in either or both antigens is termed a shift. The mechanism of antigenic drift is usually attributed to selection of preexisting mutants by pressure from increasing immunity in the human population. The mechanism of antigenic shift is less clear, but one tentative hypothesis is that shifts arise from mammalian or avian reservoirs, or through genetic recombination of human and animal influenza strains.
|
Eisgruber, H., & Stolle, F. A. (1992). [Clostridia in carcasses and fresh meat--a literature review]. Zentralbl Veterinarmed B, 39(10), 746–754.
Abstract: Clostridia are of large clinical importance as well as in the field of food hygiene, where they are responsible for spoilage but they also have a certain significance as food poisoning organisms. Information on the ecology of Clostridia in samples of deep muscle tissue of slaughtered animals is insufficient. This article is intended to increase the knowledge on the occurrence of different Clostridia species in slaughtered animals. The main emphasis is put on the significance of clostridia in meat hygiene. The theoretical basis of the so called original content of microorganisms (intrinsic bacteria), the factors and pathways of Clostridia spreading in muscles and organs are demonstrated.
|
Hardy, J. L. (1987). The ecology of western equine encephalomyelitis virus in the Central Valley of California, 1945-1985. Am J Trop Med Hyg, 37(3 Suppl), 18s–32s.
Abstract: Reeves' concept of the summer transmission cycle of western equine encephalomyelitis virus in 1945 was that the virus was amplified in a silent transmission cycle involving mosquitoes, domestic chickens, and possibly wild birds, from which it could be transmitted tangentially to and cause disease in human and equine populations. Extensive field and laboratory studies done since 1945 in the Central Valley of California have more clearly defined the specific invertebrate and vertebrate hosts involved in the basic virus transmission cycle, but the overall concept remains unchanged. The basic transmission cycle involves Culex tarsalis as the primary vector mosquito species and house finches and house sparrows as the primary amplifying hosts. Secondary amplifying hosts, upon which Cx. tarsalis frequently feeds, include other passerine species, chickens, and possibly pheasants in areas where they are abundant. Another transmission cycle that most likely is initiated from the Cx. tarsalis-wild bird cycle involves Aedes melanimon and the blacktail jackrabbit. Like humans and horses, California ground squirrels, western tree squirrels, and a few other wild mammal species become infected tangentially with the virus but do not contribute significantly to virus amplification.
|
Holzapfel, W. H., & Botha, S. J. (1988). Physiology of Sporolactobacillus strains isolated from different habitats and the indication of in vitro antagonism against Bacillus species. Int J Food Microbiol, 7(2), 161–168.
Abstract: In an ecological study only low numbers of Sporolactobacillus were found in habitats such as the faeces of herbivores, the rumen of cattle and the final waste water of an abattoir. Their presence in the final waste water of an abattoir indicates their possible association with food, and, more specifically, with meat. Differences were found in some physiological characteristics. One isolate (L2404) differed from the authentic Sporolactobacillus ATCC 15538 by its inability to ferment inulin, its growth in presence of 6.5% NaCl and in 0.2% tellurite, by the isomer(s) of lactic acid produced and the mol% G + G in the DNA. One Sporolactobacillus isolate (L2407) showed antagonism against Bacillus cereus, Bacillus cereus var, mycoides, Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus subtilis.
|
