ORCID Profile
0000-0002-6387-0850
Current Organisation
University of Adelaide
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S10393-021-01516-0
Abstract: Wild birds are important in the transmission of many zoonotic pathogens such as salmonella and avian influenza virus (AIV). The current study investigated the presence of bacterial and viral pathogens in birds foraging at an open landfill located in Central Iran. We collected blood and intestinal s les from five abundant species, including rook (Corvus frugilegus), European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), house sparrow (Passer domesticus), black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) and slender-billed gull Chroicocephalus genei for bacteriological and serological examinations. Escherichia coli was present in all of the five species, while Salmonella spp. was found in four species. C ylobacter jejuni, Yersinia spp., Cytrobacter spp., and Klebsiella spp. were other bacteria isolated from all of the five species. Competitive ELISA showed that 19 s les (32%) from the two gull species were positive for AIV. There was no detection of West Nile virus, or Newcastle disease virus in the 150 birds s led. The prevalence of these pathogens in landfill birds indicated that a potential risk is posed to landfill workers and the surrounding community, adding to our limited knowledge of the potential for landfills to support disease vectors.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-05-2019
DOI: 10.1002/MET.1800
Abstract: Predicting the distribution of suitable habitats for species under climate change is essential for conservation planning. In the past three decades, the number of Persian squirrels ( Sciurus anomalus ) and the area covered by the Persian oak ( Quercus brantii ) have decreased due to various factors such as habitat degradation. Habitat suitability of the above interacting species was assessed under the current conditions and future (2050) climate change scenarios in western Iran, using a maximum entropy model (MaxEnt). The model performed well with an average area under the curve of above 0.9 for the two species. Precipitation in winter was the factor that contributed most to habitat suitability of both species. The MaxEnt projection for the year 2050 revealed a reduction in the area of suitable habitats for both species. Based on the outputs from the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research Coupled Model (HadCM) scenarios, the fundamental niche (the range of environmental conditions in which the species can survive) of the Persian squirrel will reduce by between 0.12 and 1.1%. However, under the Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques Coupled Model scenarios, small gains in potential habitats may be observed. The area of suitable habitats for the oak was reduced under all scenarios except HadCM (representative concentration pathway 2.6). The results showed that the loss of suitable habitats for both species was more evident in the northern part of the range where the best habitats currently exist. In contrast, small gains in suitable habitats may be observed in the southern and eastern part of the range.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-09-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.6774
Abstract: Interspecific hybridization increasingly occurs in the course of anthropogenic actions, such as species translocations and introductions, and habitat modifications or occurs in sympatric species due to the shortage of conspecific mates. Compared with anthropogenically caused hybridization, natural hybridization is more difficult to prove, but both play an important role in conservation. In this study, we detected hybridization of two gazelle sister species, Gazella bennettii (adapted to dry areas) and Gazella subgutturosa (adapted to open plains), in five habitat areas, where G. bennettii naturally occur in central Iran. The hybrids have a nuclear genomic identity (based on two introns), habitat preference, and phenotype of G. bennettii , but the mitochondrial identity (based on cyt b ) of G. subgutturosa . We suggest that natural hybridization of female G. subgutturosa and male G. bennettii happened twice in central Iran in prehistoric times, based on the haplotype pattern that we found. However, we found indications of recent hybridization between both species under special circumstances, for ex le, in breeding centers, due to translocations, or in areas of sympatry due to the shortage of conspecific mates. Therefore, these two species must be kept separately in the breeding centers, and introduction of one of them into the habitat of the other must be strictly avoided.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.9558
Abstract: Water availability is an important driver of bird population change, and its effects are likely to increase in coming decades under climate change. Here we assess effects of temperature, precipitation, and water area on wintering bird populations in Miyangaran Wetland in southwestern Iran. Modeling methods including, generalized linear model (GLM) and hierarchical partitioning were used to examine the relative importance of variables. The number of wintering species, inhabiting the wetland, varied among years, ranging from 10 to 48 species. The total number of wintering birds showed a significant decreasing trend. A significant increasing trend was obtained for shorebirds, while waterfowl species were significantly decreased. The GLM showed that species abundance, richness, and ersity were significantly correlated with the standardized precipitation index (SPI), annual precipitation, and normalized difference water index (NDWI). Hierarchical partitioning analysis also identified NDWI, SPI, and annual precipitation as the most important variables with average independent effects of 35, 36 ( p .01) and 17% ( p .05), respectively. Our results revealed that the water area plays a major role in determining the structure of bird ersity and abundance, affecting both waterfowl and shorebirds.
No related grants have been discovered for Mansoureh Malekian.