Freshwater ecology and biodiversity in the tropics: what did we learn from 30 years of onchocerciasis control and the associated biomonitoring of West African rivers?

Lévêque, Christian; Hougard, Jean-Marc; Resh, Vincent H.; Statzner, Bernhard; Yaméogo, L.

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1084-9_2

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…That both fish and macroinvertebrate biodiversity studies over the period of the OCR (since 1974) indicated that major losses did not occur as the successful public health program (WHO, 2002;Paugy et al, 1999;Yaméogo et al, 2001;Lévêque et al, 2003;Resh et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The choice of these two groups reflected consensus at that time about which organisms were considered as the best ''indicators'' of any environmental impact on rivers (e.g., Hellawell, 1978;Hynes, 1970). Detailed analyses of these trends for fish and macroinvertebrates, from over 20 years of monitoring multiple sites in the majority of participating countries, are presented in detail by Paugy et al (1999), Yaméogo et al (2001), Lévêque et al (2003), and Resh et al (2004) (Fig. 2).…”

Section: Control Of River Blindness and Effects On Non-target Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sampling methods also reflected perceptions of which approaches worked best in the mid-1970s when the detailed protocols were developed: a standard set of gill nets of different mesh sizes was run for 2 consecutive nights every 3 months (Lévêque et al, 2003;Resh et al, 2004). The sampling regime remained unchanged for over 20 years of OCP studies.…”

Section: Fish Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Molyneux (1995) reviewed the OCP's progress after two decades, and Boatin et al (1997) described the changed epidemiological pattern following extensive control and the expansion of OCP into extension areas. The environmental effects of OCP's control activities has been presented in Resh et al (2004) and Lévêque et al (2003). Overviews of onchocerciasis control efforts in Africa have been published recently by Benton et al (2002) and by Richards et al (2001), who also includes the programs in the Americas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Control of River Blindness in West Africa: Case History of Biodiversity in a Disease Control Program

2004

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The elimination of river blindness (onchocerciasis) in West Africa has been one of the most successful public health and economic development programs yet conducted. Control was based on aerial application of insecticides to control the aquatic, larval stages of black flies in the Simulium damnosum complex and distribution of ivermectin-based drugs to reduce incidence of the filarial worm, Onchocerca volvulus, that may ultimately result in blindness. Control efforts were long-term , extensive (with as many as 50,000 km of river miles being treated weekly for 12 years or longer), and far-reaching (distribution of drugs to almost 7 million people in 11 West African countries). The challenges and success of the program were strongly related to biodiversity: the vector S. damnosum is actually a complex of several species and subspecies, which vary in their competence in disease transmission; the filarial worm O. volvulus has different forms that vary in their virulence and incidence of producing blindness in humans; maintenance of the biodiversity of the nontarget riverine fauna was a prime concern of both the control program and the donor countries that supported it; the main insecticide used to control the black fly vector was derived from a bacterium Bacillus thuringensis israelensis; and the drug used in controlling the filarial worm was derived from a soil-dwelling Streptomyces fungus. Long-term biomonitoring studies indicate that environmental damage (e.g., loss of sensitive taxa) incurred was reversed when insecticide applications ceased.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Control Of River Blindness and Effects On Non-target Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fish Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Control of River Blindness in West Africa: Case History of Biodiversity in a Disease Control Program

2004

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“…Groombridge 1992;Norse 1994;Heywood and Baste 1995;DiCastri and Younes 1996;Reaka-Kudla et al 1997;Cracraft and Grifa 1999) but most of the studies have focused upon terrestrial or marine ecosystems. The biodiversity in inland aquatic environments has started receiving attention only recently (Lévêque 1997;McAllister et al 1997;Groombridge and Jenkins 1998;Olson et al 1998;Lévêque et al 2003Lévêque et al , 2005). Among inland aquatic ecosystems, wetlands have been extensively investigated for their ecology, management, conservation and restoration (Gopal et al 1982;Gore 1983;Sharitz and Gibbons 1989;Lugo et al 1990;Patten et al 1990Patten et al , 1993Whigham et al 1993;Mitsch 1994;McComb and Davis 1999;Westlake et al 1999;Keddy 2000;Mitsch and Gosselink 2000;Fraser and Keddy 2005), but their biodiversity related issues have, by and large, remained neglected until recently (Hails 1996;Giesen 1997;Junk 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity in Wetlands

Gopal

2009

The Wetlands Handbook

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Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges

et al. 2006

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Freshwater biodiversity is the over-riding conservation priority during the International Decade for Action - 'Water for Life' - 2005 to 2015. Fresh water makes up only 0.01% of the World's water and approximately 0.8% of the Earth's surface, yet this tiny fraction of global water supports at least 100000 species out of approximately 1.8 million - almost 6% of all described species. Inland waters and freshwater biodiversity constitute a valuable natural resource, in economic, cultural, aesthetic, scientific and educational terms. Their conservation and management are critical to the interests of all humans, nations and governments. Yet this precious heritage is in crisis. Fresh waters are experiencing declines in biodiversity far greater than those in the most affected terrestrial ecosystems, and if trends in human demands for water remain unaltered and species losses continue at current rates, the opportunity to conserve much of the remaining biodiversity in fresh water will vanish before the 'Water for Life' decade ends in 2015. Why is this so, and what is being done about it? This article explores the special features of freshwater habitats and the biodiversity they support that makes them especially vulnerable to human activities. We document threats to global freshwater biodiversity under five headings: overexploitation; water pollution; flow modification; destruction or degradation of habitat; and invasion by exotic species. Their combined and interacting influences have resulted in population declines and range reduction of freshwater biodiversity worldwide. Conservation of biodiversity is complicated by the landscape position of rivers and wetlands as 'receivers' of land-use effluents, and the problems posed by endemism and thus non-substitutability. In addition, in many parts of the world, fresh water is subject to severe competition among multiple human stakeholders. Protection of freshwater biodiversity is perhaps the ultimate conservation challenge because it is influenced by the upstream drainage network, the surrounding land, the riparian zone, and - in the case of migrating aquatic fauna - downstream reaches. Such prerequisites are hardly ever met. Immediate action is needed where opportunities exist to set aside intact lake and river ecosystems within large protected areas. For most of the global land surface, trade-offs between conservation of freshwater biodiversity and human use of ecosystem goods and services are necessary. We advocate continuing attempts to check species loss but, in many situations, urge adoption of a compromise position of management for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem functioning and resilience, and human livelihoods in order to provide a viable long-term basis for freshwater conservation. Recognition of this need will require adoption of a new paradigm for biodiversity protection and freshwater ecosystem management - one that has been appropriately termed 'reconciliation ecology'.

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Freshwater ecology and biodiversity in the tropics: what did we learn from 30 years of onchocerciasis control and the associated biomonitoring of West African rivers?

Cited by 11 publications

References 58 publications

Control of River Blindness in West Africa: Case History of Biodiversity in a Disease Control Program

Control of River Blindness in West Africa: Case History of Biodiversity in a Disease Control Program

Biodiversity in Wetlands

Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges

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