The state-of-the-art and future research directions on sacred forests and ecosystem services.

The importance of forests in providing a healthy environment and good quality of life for people is crucial. Sacred forests, in particular, play a significant role in the social and ecological aspects of life. Despite numerous studies and reports on the subject, there is a lack of an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of research on sacred forests and their ecosystem services. Our review looked at 2811 papers from the Scopus database using keyword selection. After screening, 214 papers were used for bibliometric analysis to assess the research trends and distribution of studies done on the contribution of sacred forests to various ecosystem services. Seventy-seven publications focusing on cultural ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and carbon accumulation that met our eligibility criteria were chosen for detailed analysis of the methodological flows and gaps in the literature. The results revealed that studies on the subject are increasing, notably in developing countries. However, very limited investigations can be observed in the urban context. Furthermore, we discovered that most studies used field surveys to grasp sacred forests' ecological aspects. While this technique gave a thorough understanding of the forests, future research should use a combination of methods, including remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and social surveys, to better understand the forests and the ecosystem services they provide. Future studies ought to evaluate the multiple regulative services and non-material benefits of sacred forests to ensure long-term human well-being and provide scientific proof for acknowledging and conserving these critical places are required particularly in urban landscapes. Overall, more research is required to comprehend these gaps in a broader context and enhance our overall view of conservation and sociocultural significance, both of which are critical for long-term practice.

Harnessing Insights from Indicators-Based Resilience Assessment for Enhancing Sustainability in the Gurage Socio-Ecological Production Landscape of Ethiopia.

Even though the mosaic of different land-use/land-cover types has long contributed to the resilience of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes in Ethiopia, recent data indicate that their sustainability is under threat. This study aims to evaluate landscape resilience by adopting a set of indicators for enhancing sustainability in the Gurage socio-ecological production landscape in Ethiopia. The authors employed a toolkit of indicators in the production landscape through a community-based scoring approach (1-5 Likert scale). The information from household surveys, land-use/land-cover analysis, and satellite-based drought incidents assessment was integrated with the ranking analysis to support the evaluations. The results revealed that landscape diversity, ecosystem protection, local governance, and social equity indicators had the highest landscape resilience ranks. In contrast, lower ranks are associated with knowledge, innovation, livelihoods, and well-being indicators. The overall resilience of the Gurage socio-ecological production landscape was estimated to be below average. Thus, strategies that enhance the resilience and sustainability of this socio-ecological landscape are essential. The findings could help draw the attention of policymakers and natural resource managers to building and strengthening the resilience of the landscape. This study demonstrates that indicators could aid in evaluating landscape resilience status along with other ancillary information, particularly in data-sparse regions. Methods of assessing resilience must be creative in such regions, and this paper may inform such efforts. In addition, the study recommends that landscape resilience indicators be improved by reducing subjective matter and including spatial-explicit dimensions for evaluating resilience.

Spoligotype analysis of Mycobacterium bovis isolates from cattle and assessment of zoonotic TB transmission among individuals working in bovine TB-infected dairy farms in Ethiopia.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a disease with impact on dairy productivity, as well as having the potential for zoonotic transmission. Understanding the genetic diversity of the disease agent Mycobacterium bovis is important for identifying its routes of transmission. Here we investigated the level of genetic diversity of M. bovis isolates and assessed the zoonotic potential in risk groups of people working in bTB-infected dairy farms in central Ethiopia. M. bovis was isolated and spoligotyped from tissue lesions collected from slaughtered cattle as well as from raw milk collected from bTB positive cows in dairy farms from six urban areas of central Ethiopia. From consented dairy farm workers, knowledge and practices related to zoonotic TB transmission, together with demographic and clinical information, was collected through interviews. Sputum or Fine Needle Aspirate (FNA) samples were collected from suspected TB cases. Spoligotyping of 55 M. bovis isolates that originated either from cattle tissues with tuberculous lesion or from raw milk revealed seven spoligotype patterns where SB1176 was the most prevalent type (47.3%). Most isolates (89.1%) were of the M. bovis African 2 clonal complex. All sputum and FNA samples from 41 dairy farm workers with symptoms of TB were culture negative for any mycobacteria. Among the 41 TB suspected farm workers, 61% did not know about bTB in cattle and its zoonotic potential, and over two-third of these workers practiced raw milk consumption. Our spoligotype analysis suggests a wider transmission of a single spoligotype in the study area. The results reported here may be useful in guiding future work to identify the source and direction of bTB transmission and hence design of a control strategy. Isolation of M. bovis from milk, knowledge gap on zoonotic TB and practice of consumption of raw milk in the study population showed potential risk for zoonotic transmission.

Characterization and mapping of enset-based home-garden agroforestry for sustainable landscape management of the Gurage socioecological landscape in Ethiopia.

Developing strategies that counter the ongoing homogenization trends of home-garden agroforestry systems is required to maintain diversity and sustainability. This study aimed to map and characterize traditional enset-based home-garden agroforestry for managing sustainability in the Gurage socioecological landscape in Ethiopia. We generated plots and land use land cover (LULC) spatial data from orthophotomosaic and collected household survey data of the field. Five home-garden types were identified explicitly through integrating the home-garden composition, functional structure, and agroecological zones. Most home-garden types had similar horizontal functional structures in which perennial crops were planted close to homesteads, annual crops grew in outer fields, and woodlots were located at the end of the parcel. Diverse woody species, crop varieties, and plot sizes were identified in individual household parcels, and these varied across the home-garden types. Enset-based home-garden agroforestry production has been declining in the Ethiopian landscape because of socioeconomic changes and a lack of technological inputs. These challenges may compromise the community's food security with loss of the product diversity provided by the home-garden system. Thus, technological adoptions and scaling up of agroforestry practices according to the home-garden types are necessary for the continue provision of multiple contributions. This study demonstrated site-specific spatial characterization of the agroforestry systems by considering a holistic approach to reduce the local challenges and support the development of sustainable landscape management in an altering socioecological landscape.

Molecular Analysis of East African Lumpy Skin Disease Viruses Reveals a Mixed Isolate with Features of Both Vaccine and Field Isolates.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD), an economically significant disease in cattle caused by lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), is endemic to nearly all of Africa. Since 2012, LSDV has emerged as a significant epizootic pathogen given its rapid spread into new geographical locations outside Africa, including the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia. To assess the genetic diversity of LSDVs in East Africa, we sequenced and analyzed the RPO30 and GPCR genes of LSDV in twenty-two archive samples collected in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan before the appearance of LSD in the Middle East and its incursion into Europe. We compared them to publicly available sequences of LSDVs from the same region and those collected elsewhere. The results showed that the East African field isolates in this study were remarkably similar to each other and to previously sequenced field isolates of LSDV for the RPO30 and GPCR genes. The only exception was LSDV Embu/B338/2011, a field virus collected in Kenya, which displayed mixed features between the LSDV Neethling vaccine and field isolates. LSDV Embu/B338/2011 had the same 12-nucleotide insertion found in LSDV Neethling and KS-1 vaccines. Further analysis of the partial EEV glycoprotein, B22R, RNA helicase, virion core protein, NTPase, and N1R/p28-like protein genes showed that LSDV Embu/B338/2011 differs from previously described LSDV variants carrying the 12-nucleotide insertion in the GPCR gene. These findings highlight the importance of the constant monitoring of genetic variation among LSDV isolates.

Quantifying and mapping of water-related ecosystem services for enhancing the security of the food-water-energy nexus in tropical data-sparse catchment.

The food-water-energy nexus concept helps to produce an integrative solutions to secure the water-related ecosystem services sustainably. This study aims to quantify and map water provisioning and soil erosion regulating services from both demand and supply sides in a spatially explicit manner. It considers the Wabe River catchment of the Omo-Gibe Basin in tropical data-sparse region of East Africa as a case study and uses the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) annual and seasonal water yield and sediment delivery models. The water demands and biophysical parameters data were collected from primary and secondary sources and prepared according to the requirement of the models. The models output were validated after conducting sensitivity analysis of the input parameters. The result shows that the rainfall amount of the catchment is highly seasonal, which causes the surface water to vary according to the seasons. The high annual precipitation and low actual evapotranspiration of the catchment resulted high annual water yields. However, the people in the catchment did not satisfied their domestic water demand as result of inaccessibility and poor management of the rain water. The high net supply of water, especially in the rainy season, carries detached top soil via heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas. Even though the existing land cover and management practices contribute to sediment retention, a large amount of sediment is exported to rivers, which jeopardizes the food and energy security. Thus, the management of water is essential for enhancing the security of the food-water-energy nexus in the catchment. The methods applied in this study can increase spatial understanding of the water-related ecosystem services especially in data-sparse catchments of the tropics, and lead to improvement of water management to enhance the security nexus.

Quantification and mapping of the supply of and demand for carbon storage and sequestration service in woody biomass and soil to mitigate climate change in the socio-ecological environment.

In this study, the supply of and demand for carbon storage and sequestration of woody biomass in the socio-ecological environment of the Wabe River catchment in Gurage Mountains, Ethiopia, were estimated. This information was subsequently integrated into a map that showed the balance between supply capacities and demand in a spatially explicit manner to inform planners and decision makers on methods used to manage local climate change. Field data for wood biomass and soil were collected, satellite images for land use and land cover (LULC) were classified, and secondary data from statistics and studies for estimation were obtained. Carbon storage, the rate of carbon sequestration and the rate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from diverse sources at different LULCs, was estimated accordingly by several methods. Even though a large amount of carbon was stored in the catchment, the current yearly sequestration was less than the CO2-eq. GHG emissions. Forest and Enset-based agroforestry emissions exhibited the highest amount of woody biomass, and cereal crop and wetland exhibited the highest decrease in soil carbon sequestration. CO2-eq. GHG emissions are mainly caused by livestock, nitrogenous fertilizer consumption, and urban activities. The net negative emissions were estimated for the LULC classes of cereal crop, grazing land, and urban areas. In conclusion, without any high-emission industries, GHG emissions can be greater than the regulatory capacity of ecosystems in the socio-ecological environment. This quantification approach can provide information to policy and decision makers to enable them to tackle climate change at the root level. Thus, measures to decrease emission levels and enhance the sequestration capacity are crucial to mitigate the globally delivered service in a specific area. Further studies on the effects of land use alternatives on net emissions are recommended to obtain in-depth knowledge on sustainable land use planning.

Effect of vaccination on transmission characteristics of highly virulent Newcastle disease virus in experimentally infected chickens.

An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effect of vaccines produced in Ethiopia from vaccine strains used worldwide on the transmission characteristics of velogenic Newcastle disease virus field strain after different vaccination schemes. Chickens were vaccinated with Hitchner B1, La Sota or I-2 via the intraocular and intranasal routes. Vaccine and challenge viruses induced high antibody levels, both in inoculated and contact birds. Prime-boost vaccination protected birds against morbidity and mortality and significantly reduced the incidence of viral shedding from chickens compared with single vaccinated and unvaccinated birds. Protection from disease and mortality was correlated with the presence of positive antibody titres (>4 log2) at day of challenge. Most of the unvaccinated and in-contact birds excreted the virus and showed a high level of antibody titres, indicating the high infectivity of the challenge virus. The detection of the challenge virus in most of vaccinated birds demonstrated that the tested vaccination protocols cannot fully protect birds from viral infection, replication and shedding, and vaccinated-infected birds can act as a source of infection for susceptible flocks. The high mortality observed in unvaccinated birds and their contacts confirmed the virulence of the challenge virus and indicated that this field virus strain can easily spread in an unvaccinated poultry population and cause major outbreaks. Progressive vaccinations supported by biosecurity measures should therefore be implemented to control the disease and introduction of the virus to the poultry farms.

Protective efficacy of a single immunization with capripoxvirus-vectored recombinant peste des petits ruminants vaccines in presence of pre-existing immunity.

Sheeppox, goatpox and peste des petits ruminants (PPR) are highly contagious ruminant diseases widely distributed in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Capripoxvirus (CPV)-vectored recombinant PPR vaccines (rCPV-PPR vaccines), which have been developed and shown to protect against both Capripox (CP) and PPR, would be critical tools in the control of these important diseases. In most parts of the world, these disease distributions overlap each other leaving concerns about the potential impact that pre-existing immunity against either disease may have on the protective efficacy of these bivalent rCPV-PPR vaccines. Currently, this question has not been indisputably addressed. Therefore, we undertook this study, under experimental conditions designed for the context of mass vaccination campaigns of small ruminants, using the two CPV recombinants (Kenya sheep-1 (KS-1) strain-based constructs) developed previously in our laboratory. Pre-existing immunity was first induced by immunization either with an attenuated CPV vaccine strain (KS-1) or the attenuated PPRV vaccine strain (Nigeria 75/1) and animals were thereafter inoculated once subcutaneously with a mixture of CPV recombinants expressing either the hemagglutinin (H) or the fusion (F) protein gene of PPRV (10(3) TCID50/animal of each). Finally, these animals were challenged with a virulent CPV strain followed by a virulent PPRV strain 3 weeks later. Our study demonstrated full protection against CP for vaccinated animals with prior exposure to PPRV and a partial protection against PPR for vaccinated animals with prior exposure to CPV. The latter animals exhibited a mild clinical form of PPR and did not show any post-challenge anamnestic neutralizing antibody response against PPRV. The implications of these results are discussed herein and suggestions made for future research regarding the development of CPV-vectored vaccines.

Molecular characterization of Newcastle disease viruses isolated from rural chicken in northwest Ethiopia reveals the circulation of three distinct genotypes in the country.

Newcastle disease (ND) is a highly contagious disease that affects many species of birds and causes significant economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. Fifteen Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolates obtained from rural chickens in northwest Ethiopia in 2011 and 2012 were characterized genotypically. The main functional region of the F gene was amplified and sequenced (260 nucleotides). Among the Ethiopian NDV isolates, 2 isolates had the virulent motif (112)R-R-Q-K-R-F(117) at the cleavage site of the fusion protein while 13 isolates contained the lentogenic motif (112)G-G/R-Q-G-R-L(117). Phylogenetic analysis based on the variable region of the F gene indicated that the two isolates exhibiting the virulent motif belonged to lineage 5 (genotype VII) subgenotype d and the remaining 13 isolates were grouped into lineage 2 (genotype II). The nucleotide sequences of lineage 5 isolates were genetically related to the Sudanese NDV isolates, suggesting potential epidemiological link of ND outbreaks between neighbouring countries. The lentogenic strains shared similarities with La Sota vaccine strain and probably originated from the vaccine strain either through direct exposure of birds to the live vaccine or to infectious La Sota-like strains circulating in rural poultry. This study provides genetic evidence on the existence of different NDV genotypes circulating in the rural poultry in Ethiopia. The virulent NDV continues to be a problem in poultry sector in Ethiopia, and their continuous circulation in rural and commercial poultry calls for improved surveillance and intensified vaccination and other control measures.

First confirmation of foot and mouth disease virus serotype SAT-1 in cattle and small ruminants in Ethiopia in 2007/08.

The study was conducted in three regional states of Ethiopia: Amhara, Oromia, and the Southern Nations Nationalities and people regional state from August 2007 to April 2008 with the objective of identifying the foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotypes circulating in the region. Two serotypes were recorded from epithelial tissue and oesophageal-pharyngeal (OP) fluid that were taken from outbreaks in study regions of Ethiopia. Serotype O FMDV was identified in Girar Jarso, Yabello, and Ankesha Guagusa districts while SAT-1 was isolated in Surma and Maji districts from tissue samples and this was the first report of the FMDV serotype in Ethiopia. Similarly, the OP fluid samples were found positive for SAT-1 FMDV in Maji and Surma districts.

Genetic characterization of foot-and-mouth disease viruses, Ethiopia, 1981-2007.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. To further understand its complex epidemiology, which involves multiple virus serotypes and host species, we characterized the viruses recovered from FMD outbreaks in Ethiopia during 1981-2007. We detected 5 of the 7 FMDV serotypes (O, A, C, Southern African Territories [SAT] 1, and SAT 2). Serotype O predominated, followed by serotype A; type C was not recognized after 1983. Phylogenetic analysis of virus protein 1 sequences indicated emergence of a new topotype within serotype O, East Africa 4. In 2007, serotype SAT 1 was detected in Ethiopia and formed a new distinct topotype (IX), and serotype SAT 2 reappeared after an apparent gap of 16 years. The diversity of viruses highlights the role of this region as a reservoir for FMD virus, and their continuing emergence in Ethiopia will greatly affect spread and consequent control strategy of the disease on this continent.