Conservation opportunities and challenges in Brazil’s roadless and railroad-less areas

Tisler, Trevor Ray; Teixeira, Fernanda Zimmermann; Nóbrega, Rodrigo Affonso de Albuquerque

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abi5548

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…We failed to identify if the locations within this corridor (that cuts through the centre of the country) had ecological or landscape features of relevance. For example, the associated central regions of Brazil are rich in the Cerrado biome (Tisler et al, 2022) which was negatively associated with human YFV case reporting. Compared to other regions, these regions are also not particularly suitable for the Haemagogus and Sabethes spp.…”

Section: Conclusion / Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic epidemiology sheds light on the recent spatio-temporal dynamics of Yellow Fever virus and the spatial corridor that fueled its ongoing emergence in southern Brazil

Giovanetti

Pinotti

Zanluca

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Despite the considerable morbidity and mortality of Yellow fever virus (YFV) infections in Brazil, as well as its widespread presence in non-human primate host, our understanding of disease outbreaks is hampered by limited viral genomic data. Determining the timing and spatial corridors of YFV spread, as well as the geographic hotspots that link the endemic north of the country with epidemic extra-Amazonian regions, are central to predicting and preventing future outbreak events and epidemics. Here, we tracked the recent spread of the virus by integrating genome sequences of new YFV infections sampled from infected non-human primates and humans with both epidemiological and vector data. Through a combination of phylogenetic and epidemiological models we reconstructed the recent transmission history of YFV within different epidemic seasons in Brazil. A suitability index based on the highly domesticated Aedes aegypti was able to capture the seasonality of reported human infections. Spatial modelling revealed spatial hotspots with both past reporting and low vaccination coverage, which coincided with many of the largest urban centres in the Southeast. Phylodynamic analysis unravelled the circulation of three distinct YFV lineages, and provided proof of the directionality of a known spatial corridor of viral spread that connects the endemic North with the extra-Amazonian basin. This study illustrates that genomics linked with field sampling of animals and humans within a One Health framework can provide new insights into the landscape of YFV transmission, augmenting traditional approaches to infectious disease surveillance and control.

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Section: Conclusion / Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic epidemiology sheds light on the recent spatio-temporal dynamics of Yellow Fever virus and the spatial corridor that fueled its ongoing emergence in southern Brazil

Giovanetti

Pinotti

Zanluca

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nevertheless, the predicted mortality rates are far from low in the Amazon region, thus highlighting the vulnerability of this area to future road expansion projects. This is especially true when we consider its high species richness (Figure 5a) and vulnerability to anthropic impacts (Harfoot et al, 2021), the great relevance of keeping areas road‐less (Tisler et al, 2022), and our expected increase in yearly road‐kill rates after the construction of planned roads.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Assessing Brazilian reptiles' road‐kill risks using trait‐based models

Rahhal

Pinto²,

Medrano-Vizcaíno

et al. 2023

Austral Ecology

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Reptiles are an understudied group in road ecology, despite evidence of their high vulnerability to road mortality. Recently, trait‐based models have been demonstrated to be valuable tools for explaining and predicting road mortality risks for birds and mammals. The present study aimed to apply such models to reptiles for the first time. We fitted eight random forest regression models, controlling for different survey design variables, to explain 782 empirical road‐kill rates for Brazilian reptiles and selected the best‐performing model to predict road mortality risks for 572 continental species. The results showed that species that are habitat generalists, omnivorous, viviparous, cathemeral, and have intermediate clutch or litter sizes are at a higher risk of being road‐killed. The relationships for other traits included in our models were uncertain, but our findings suggest that population density and species‐specific behavioural responses to roads and traffic may play an important role in road mortality risks. Geographical location and survey design variables (especially sampling speed and sampling time) were more important in explaining the variance of the empirical road‐kill rates than any of the tested ecological and functional traits. Besides adding evidence of the vulnerability of the Amazon region to vertebrate road‐kills, this study highlights some similarities between the relationships identified here and those found for birds and mammals (such as with body mass and habitat breadth). We also corroborate that trait‐based models are useful tools to aid in conservation efforts but indicate that they can be biased by the methodologies used to collect empirical data. Future road‐kill surveys should therefore use methods specifically designed for reptiles and estimate both observer efficiency and carcass removal rates.

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“…We failed to identify whether the locations within this corridor (that cuts through the center of the country) had ecological or landscape features of relevance. For example, the associated central regions of Brazil are rich in the Cerrado biome ( 41 ), which was negatively associated with human YFV case reporting case reporting in our spatial modeling analyses. Compared to elsewhere, these regions are also not particularly suitable for the Haemagogus and Sabethes spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Genomic epidemiology unveils the dynamics and spatial corridor behind the Yellow Fever virus outbreak in Southern Brazil

Giovanetti,

Pinotti,

Zanluca

et al. 2023

Sci. Adv.

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Despite the considerable morbidity and mortality of yellow fever virus (YFV) infections in Brazil, our understanding of disease outbreaks is hampered by limited viral genomic data. Here, through a combination of phylogenetic and epidemiological models, we reconstructed the recent transmission history of YFV within different epidemic seasons in Brazil. A suitability index based on the highly domesticated Aedes aegypti was able to capture the seasonality of reported human infections. Spatial modeling revealed spatial hotspots with both past reporting and low vaccination coverage, which coincided with many of the largest urban centers in the Southeast. Phylodynamic analysis unraveled the circulation of three distinct lineages and provided proof of the directionality of a known spatial corridor that connects the endemic North with the extra-Amazonian basin. This study illustrates that genomics linked with eco-epidemiology can provide new insights into the landscape of YFV transmission, augmenting traditional approaches to infectious disease surveillance and control.

show abstract

Conservation opportunities and challenges in Brazil’s roadless and railroad-less areas

Cited by 12 publications

References 58 publications

Genomic epidemiology sheds light on the recent spatio-temporal dynamics of Yellow Fever virus and the spatial corridor that fueled its ongoing emergence in southern Brazil

Genomic epidemiology sheds light on the recent spatio-temporal dynamics of Yellow Fever virus and the spatial corridor that fueled its ongoing emergence in southern Brazil

Assessing Brazilian reptiles' road‐kill risks using trait‐based models

Genomic epidemiology unveils the dynamics and spatial corridor behind the Yellow Fever virus outbreak in Southern Brazil

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