Stefanie M. Schäfer

• UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Background Kyasanur forest disease virus (KFDV) is a tick-borne flavivirus causing debilitating and potentially fatal disease in people in the Western Ghats region of India. The transmission cycle is complex, involving multiple vector and host species, but there are significant gaps in ecological knowledge. Empirical data on pathogen-vector-host in...

Background Traditional medicine (TM) interventions are plausible therapeutic alternatives to conventional medical interventions against emerging and endemic zoonotic diseases, particularly in low-and middle-income countries that may lack resources and infrastructure. Despite the growing popularity in the usage of TM interventions, their clinical sa...

Purpose The rising burden of mosquito-borne diseases in Europe extends beyond urban areas, encompassing rural and semi-urban regions near managed and natural wetlands evidenced by recent outbreaks of Usutu and West Nile viruses. While wetland management policies focus on biodiversity and ecosystem services, few studies explore the impact on mosquit...

The risk of spillover of zoonotic diseases to humans is changing in response to multiple environmental and societal drivers, particularly in tropical regions where the burden of neglected zoonotic diseases is highest and land use change and forest conversion is occurring most rapidly. Neglected zoonotic diseases can have significant impacts on poor...

There is increased global and national attention on the need for effective strategies to control zoonotic diseases. Quick, effective action is, however, hampered by poor evidence-bases and limited coordination between stakeholders from relevant sectors such as public and animal health, wildlife and forestry sectors at different scales, who may not...

Zoonoses disproportionately affect tropical communities and are associated with human modification and use of ecosystems. Effective management is hampered by poor ecological understanding of disease transmission and often focuses on human vaccination or treatment. Better ecological understanding of multi-vector and multi-host transmission, social a...

The dynamics and processes of nutrient cycling and release were examined for a lowland wetland‐pond system, draining woodland in southern England. Hydrochemical and meteorological data were analyzed from 1997 to 2017, along with high‐resolution in situ sensor measurements from 2016 to 2017. The results showed that even a relatively pristine wetland...

Background: Culicoides obsoletus is an abundant and widely distributed Holarctic biting midge species, involved in the transmission of bluetongue virus (BTV) and Schmallenberg virus (SBV) to wild and domestic ruminants. Females of this vector species are often reported jointly with two morphologically very close species, C. scoticus and C. montanus...

Local biodiversity trends over time are likely to be decoupled from global trends, as local processes may compensate or counteract global change. We analyze 161 long-term biological time series (15–91 years) collected across Europe, using a comprehensive dataset comprising ~6,200 marine, freshwater and terrestrial taxa. We test whether (i) local lo...

Background Zoonotic diseases disproportionately affect poor tropical communities. Transmission dynamics of zoonoses are complex, involving communities of vector and animal hosts, with human behaviour and ecosystem use altering exposure to infected vectors and hosts. This complexity means that efforts to manage and prevent human spillover are often...

Background: Culicoides obsoletus is an abundant and widely distributed Holarctic biting midge species, involved in the transmission of bluetongue virus (BTV) and Schmallenberg virus (SBV) to wild and domestic ruminants. Females of this vector species are often reported jointly with two morphologically very close species, C. scoticus and C. montanu...

Wetlands provide multiple services to human societies. Despite policies dedicated to their protection, current European policies do not address the need to balance mosquito management approaches to mitigate dis‐services to human health and well‐being while ensuring that wetland conservation goals are met. Herein, we outline criteria for considerati...

Zoonotic diseases affect resource-poor tropical communities disproportionately, and are linked to human use and modification of ecosystems. Disentangling the socio-ecological mechanisms by which ecosystem change precipitates impacts of pathogens is critical for predicting disease risk and designing effective intervention strategies. Despite the glo...

Long-term datasets of integrated environmental variables, co-located together, are relatively rare. The UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) was launched in 1992 and provides the UK with its only long-term integrated environmental monitoring and research network for the assessment of the causes and consequences of environmental change. Measurement...

Long-term datasets of integrated environmental variables, co-located together, are relatively rare. The UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) was launched in 1992 and provides the UK with its only long-term integrated environmental monitoring and research network for the assessment of the causes and consequences of environmental change. Measurement...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the major drivers of change that can negatively affect biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services and human health; islands are particularly vulnerable to biological invasions. Horizon scanning can lead to prioritisation of IAS to inform decision-making and action; its scale and scope can vary depending o...

Background: Many mosquito-borne diseases exhibit substantial seasonality, due to strong links between environmental variables and vector and pathogen life-cycles. Further, a range of density-dependent and density-independent biotic and abiotic processes affect the phenology of mosquito populations, with potentially large knock-on effects for vector...

The drivers and pressures experienced by farmland, forestry and upland sites in the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) over the last 20 years are reported through the lens of recognised approaches to the assessment of ecosystem service delivery. Temporal trends in ecosystem service delivery were examined using two methods: qualitative narratives...

We analysed trends in vegetation monitored at regular intervals over the past two decades (1993–2012) at the twelve terrestrial Environmental Change Network (ECN) sites. We sought to determine the extent to which flora had changed and link any such changes to potential environmental drivers. We observed significant increases in species richness, bo...

We characterised temporal trends and variability in key indicators of climate and atmospheric deposition chemistry at the twelve terrestrial UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) sites over the first two decades of ECN monitoring (1993–2012) using various statistical approaches. Mean air temperatures for the monitoring period were approximately 0.7...

Biomass production and plant species diversity in grassland in southern England was monitored before and after a change from conventional to organic farming. Our 18-year study, part of the UK's Environmental Change Network long-term monitoring programme, showed that the cessation of artificial fertiliser use on grassland after conversion to organic...

Allometry and growth rates of 8 forest species in the UK. The data were collected from two United Kingdom woodlands - Wytham Woods and Alice Holt. Here we present data from 582 individual trees of eight taxa in the form of summary variables. In addition the raw data files containing the variables from which the summary data were obtained. Large sam...

The risk posed to the United Kingdom by West Nile virus (WNV) has previously been considered low, due to the absence or scarcity of the main Culex sp. bridge vectors. The mosquito Culex modestus is widespread in southern Europe, where it acts as the principle bridge vector of WNV. This species was not previously thought to be present in the United...

We isolated Candida dubliniensis from a nonhuman source, namely, tick samples from an Irish seabird colony. The species was unambiguously identifi ed by phenotypic and genotypic means. Analysis of the 5.8S rRNA gene showed that the environmental isolates belong to C. dubliniensis genotype 1.

The first human isolate of Borrelia lusitaniae recovered from a Portuguese patient with suspected Lyme borreliosis is described. This isolate, from a chronic skin lesion, is also the first human isolate of Borrelia in Portugal. Different phenotypic and molecular methods are used to characterize it.

Saccharomyces paradoxus is the closest known relative of the well-known S. cerevisiae and an attractive model organism for population genetic and genomic studies. Here we characterize a set of 28 wild isolates from a 10-km(2) sampling area in southern England. All 28 isolates are homothallic (capable of mating-type switching) and wild type with res...

In Europe, 6 of the 11 genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato are prevalent in questing Ixodes ricinus ticks. In most parts of Central Europe, B. afzelii, B. garinii, and B. valaisiana are the most frequent species, whereas B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, B. bissettii, and B. lusitaniae are rare. Previously, it has been shown that B. afzelii...

The distribution of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato genospecies in questing Ixodes ricinus ticks from ecologically distinct habitats in Latvia was analyzed. A significant variation in the frequency of the genospecies across sites was observed, pointing to the importance of the host community in the ecology of Lyme borreliosis.

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) is maintained in nature by complex zoonotic transmission cycles, involving a large variety of vertebrates as hosts and hard ticks of the genus Ixodes as vectors. Recent studies suggest that the genospecies of B. burgdorferi s.l. and sometimes their subtypes are propagated by different spectra of hosts, mainly...

This book contains 12 chapters. The first chapter outlines the historical and clinical aspects of Lyme borreliosis including descriptions of the disease in humans and domestic animals, and of diagnosis and treatment. The second chapter deals with ecological methods and terminology and chapters 3-5 describe the biology of the spirochaetes and their...

The abilities of the most common European genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato to survive blood meals taken by ticks feeding on birds were analyzed. A pattern of differential survival of the spirochetes in feeding ticks was observed. The result is consistent with the concept of selective transmission of Lyme borreliosis spirochetes.

The roles of selection and migration of B. burgdorferi s. l. were studied. Questing adult Ixodes ricinus ticks were collected across Europe and analysed for infection with B. burgdorferi s. l. Analysis of the genospecies in individual ticks showed that B. garinii and B. valaisiana segregate from B. afzelii. Segregation of bird- and rodent-associate...

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), the tick-borne agent of Lyme borreliosis, is a bacterial species complex comprising 11 genospecies. Here, we discuss whether the delineation of genospecies is ecologically relevant. We provide evidence that B. burgdorferi s.l. is structured ecologically into distinct clusters that are host specific. An immuno...

The genetic diversity of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato was assessed in individual adult Ixodes ricinusticks from Europe by direct PCR amplification of spirochetal DNA followed by genospecies-specific hybridization. Analysis of mixed infections in the ticks showed that B.garinii and B. valaisianasegregate from B. afzelii. This and previous finding...

Transmission studies have demonstrated that representatives of the Myxosporea and the Actinosporea, previously thought to be two classes of the phylum Myxozoa, are different stages of a complex life cycle that requires two different hosts. In this study partial 18S rDNA sequences are provided for the first time for the myxozoan genus Thelohanellus....