Biology subjects

Rostal, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Rostal, M..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

A Descriptive Study of wetland vegetation, ecology, habitat and Rift Valley Fever virus vectors in South Africa.

Outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF) have been closely linked to environmental conditions that support large vector populations with what is required for breeding of vectors. Fine-scale vegetation surveys were used to assess how wetland plant communities vary across sites with historical RVF outbreaks in Free State Province of South Africa and to detail plant species density that correlates with mosquito habitat. MethodsAt 22 sites, we compiled 201 releves using the modified Braun-Blanquet method in combination with 200 transects using the line-point method developed specifically for this study. A total of 195 plants were identified and vouchered. These data were combined with soil analyses carried out at all 22 sites and with data from bimonthly mosquito trapping at all sites. Results and significanceWe identified an increase of invasive plants and upland species compared to the earlier study and observed that drought causes a change in wetland vegetation community structure and species composition. However, the wetland vegetation was still dominated by grasses and sedges, with a limited presence of Juncus and forbs. Livestock grazing pressure on wetlands to the drought results in reduced vegetation cover, abundance and diversity. Our work describes a changing landscape that may impact RVFV maintenance and transmission, and provides insights into extensive livestock farming and rainfall over shallow endorheic depressions in temperate grasslands and subtropical riparian environments.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Taxonomic classification methods reveal a new subgenus in the paramyxovirus subfamily Orthoparamyxovirinae

As part of a broad One Health surveillance effort to detect novel viruses in wildlife and people, we report several paramyxoviruses sequenced primarily from bats during 2013 and 2014 in Brazil and Malaysia, including seven from which we recovered full-length genomes. Of these, six represent the first full-length paramyxovirus genomes sequenced from the Americas, including two sequences which are the first full-length bat morbillivirus genomes published to date. Our findings add to the vast number of viral sequences in public repositories that have been increasing considerably in recent years due to the rising accessibility of metagenomics. Taxonomic classification of these sequences in the absence of phenotypic data has been a significant challenge, particularly in the paramyxovirus subfamily Orthoparamyxovirinae, where the rate of discovery of novel sequences has been substantial. Using pairwise amino acid sequence classification (PASC), we describe a novel genus within this subfamily tentatively named Jeishaanvirus, which we propose should include as subgenera Jeilongvirus, Shaanvirus, and a novel South American subgenus Cadivirus. We also highlight inconsistencies in the classification of Tupaia virus and Mojiang virus using the same demarcation criteria and show that members of the proposed subgenus Shaanvirus are paraphyletic. Importantly, this study underscores the critical importance of sequence length in PASC analysis as well as the importance of biological characteristics such as genome organization in the taxonomic classification of viral sequences.

microbiology↗