0000000000142397
AUTHOR
Herwig Leirs
Population cycles and outbreaks of small rodents: ten essential questions we still need to solve
AbstractMost small rodent populations in the world have fascinating population dynamics. In the northern hemisphere, voles and lemmings tend to show population cycles with regular fluctuations in numbers. In the southern hemisphere, small rodents tend to have large amplitude outbreaks with less regular intervals. In the light of vast research and debate over almost a century, we here discuss the driving forces of these different rodent population dynamics. We highlight ten questions directly related to the various characteristics of relevant populations and ecosystems that still need to be answered. This overview is not intended as a complete list of questions but rather focuses on the most…
Modeling the epidemiological history of plague in Central Asia: Palaeoclimatic forcing on a disease system over the past millennium
Abstract Background Human cases of plague (Yersinia pestis) infection originate, ultimately, in the bacterium's wildlife host populations. The epidemiological dynamics of the wildlife reservoir therefore determine the abundance, distribution and evolution of the pathogen, which in turn shape the frequency, distribution and virulence of human cases. Earlier studies have shown clear evidence of climatic forcing on contemporary plague abundance in rodents and humans. Results We find that high-resolution palaeoclimatic indices correlate with plague prevalence and population density in a major plague host species, the great gerbil (Rhombomys opimus), over 1949-1995. Climate-driven models trained…
Chimpanzees surviving in a fragmented high‐altitude forest landscape of the Congolese Albertine Rift
This paper documents a community of eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii Giglioli, 1872) inhabiting three relict forest fragments situated on the Lake Albert escarpment, down the Ituri highlands, of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The area explored had a combined forested surface of ±18.15 km2 in 2017, shrinking by 1.2% per year between 2010 and 2015. Between 2015 and 2017, we found 160 chimpanzee nests along 37.6 km of pilot walks, some up to 2,000 m altitude. Another 123 nests logged along 6.7 km transects led to an estimate of chimpanzee density of 4.62 weaned individuals per square kilometer of forest habitat. Camera‐trap images and direct observations rev…