Post by diane9247 on Apr 19, 2015 8:56:47 GMT
Beauford_D, posted on 4/24/14. Take a look at these highly informative placemarks. The file is too big to upload to this forum, so...
...Download the file HERE.
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Introduction :
Wild great ape populations are in grave danger of the devastating effects of zoonotic diseases. The transmission of pathogens from humans to each of the 4 non-human great ape species has been documented across the globe in both captive and wild populations. Medical advances and a strong call for action have been the saving grace for a few fortunate apes, but this isn’t enough. Vaccination as a conservation tool is real and it is happening. The question is, is it occurring fast enough and well enough to prevent more tragedies like the ones that this tour will guide you through?
Take this journey through Africa. Discover great apes’ most renowned epidemics. Note which pathogens seem to be reoccurring. And as you tour…keep in mind that each of the epidemics highlighted, was brought about by a pathogen for which a vaccine…already exists.
Double click each icon to see what happened at these locations. You can pause the tour at any time by hitting the space bar. This is then allow you to use your mouse to move about the area. To restart the tour, hit the space bar again.
Description:
This tour was made as a part of my graduate school studies through Project Dragonfly and Miami University of Ohio.
The goal of my EcoSpot was to basically make my paper about vaccinating wild great ape populations, come to life! It’s hard to truly grasp the severity that some pathogens have on great apes, until you really get immersed into it. My EcoSpot uses measures of morbidity and mortality to drive home the reality of how detrimental even the smallest of losses to a great ape community can be. The genetic diversity of these species is heavily impacted by the loss of just a single individual, and when combined with their slow reproductive capabilities, great apes are not particularly resilient in the face of such population declines. I chose to use the Google Earth tour domain as a means of also tying in the proximity of great ape populations to one another, in addition to allowing the audience to get a visual representation of which pathogens are occurring where. For example, by noticing little details like the fact that polio flared up twice in two non-overlapping locations, the tour encourages the audience to question the possible transmission pathways and sources of the pathogen.
When writing my TESP, I came across a table created by Ryan and Walsh (2011) that listed a number of vaccines (ranging from experimental to licensed) for pathogens that had been documented in great apes. This sparked my interest in creating some sort of map depicting the locations of different outbreaks of disease that were caused by pathogens that were included on Ryan and Walsh’s (2011) list. So from there, I began documenting and compiling as much information as I could from each of the papers I cited in my TESP (in addition to others) about disease outbreaks and great ape epidemiology. I limited myself to outbreaks that only went as far back as 1964, simply because I could not find enough of the desired information further back in time than this year (i.e. morbidity, mortality, specific ape communities involved). Once the information was organized in tabular form I was able to transpose it onto the Google Earth tour tool, add written descriptions, photographs, and record a virtual tour.
Citations: Ryan, S. J. & Walsh, P. D. (2011). Consequences of non-intervention for infectious disease in African great apes. PLoS ONE, 12, 1-9. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029030
...Download the file HERE.
________________________________________________________________________________
Introduction :
Wild great ape populations are in grave danger of the devastating effects of zoonotic diseases. The transmission of pathogens from humans to each of the 4 non-human great ape species has been documented across the globe in both captive and wild populations. Medical advances and a strong call for action have been the saving grace for a few fortunate apes, but this isn’t enough. Vaccination as a conservation tool is real and it is happening. The question is, is it occurring fast enough and well enough to prevent more tragedies like the ones that this tour will guide you through?
Take this journey through Africa. Discover great apes’ most renowned epidemics. Note which pathogens seem to be reoccurring. And as you tour…keep in mind that each of the epidemics highlighted, was brought about by a pathogen for which a vaccine…already exists.
Double click each icon to see what happened at these locations. You can pause the tour at any time by hitting the space bar. This is then allow you to use your mouse to move about the area. To restart the tour, hit the space bar again.
Description:
This tour was made as a part of my graduate school studies through Project Dragonfly and Miami University of Ohio.
The goal of my EcoSpot was to basically make my paper about vaccinating wild great ape populations, come to life! It’s hard to truly grasp the severity that some pathogens have on great apes, until you really get immersed into it. My EcoSpot uses measures of morbidity and mortality to drive home the reality of how detrimental even the smallest of losses to a great ape community can be. The genetic diversity of these species is heavily impacted by the loss of just a single individual, and when combined with their slow reproductive capabilities, great apes are not particularly resilient in the face of such population declines. I chose to use the Google Earth tour domain as a means of also tying in the proximity of great ape populations to one another, in addition to allowing the audience to get a visual representation of which pathogens are occurring where. For example, by noticing little details like the fact that polio flared up twice in two non-overlapping locations, the tour encourages the audience to question the possible transmission pathways and sources of the pathogen.
When writing my TESP, I came across a table created by Ryan and Walsh (2011) that listed a number of vaccines (ranging from experimental to licensed) for pathogens that had been documented in great apes. This sparked my interest in creating some sort of map depicting the locations of different outbreaks of disease that were caused by pathogens that were included on Ryan and Walsh’s (2011) list. So from there, I began documenting and compiling as much information as I could from each of the papers I cited in my TESP (in addition to others) about disease outbreaks and great ape epidemiology. I limited myself to outbreaks that only went as far back as 1964, simply because I could not find enough of the desired information further back in time than this year (i.e. morbidity, mortality, specific ape communities involved). Once the information was organized in tabular form I was able to transpose it onto the Google Earth tour tool, add written descriptions, photographs, and record a virtual tour.
Citations: Ryan, S. J. & Walsh, P. D. (2011). Consequences of non-intervention for infectious disease in African great apes. PLoS ONE, 12, 1-9. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029030