Institution
Zoological Society of London
Nonprofit•London, Camden, United Kingdom•
About: Zoological Society of London is a nonprofit organization based out in London, Camden, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Biodiversity. The organization has 1814 authors who have published 3743 publications receiving 201213 citations. The organization is also known as: ZSL.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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TL;DR: It is concluded that global resources to counter disease emergence are poorly allocated, with the majority of the scientific and surveillance effort focused on countries from where the next important EID is least likely to originate.
Abstract: Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are a significant burden on global economies and public health. Their emergence is thought to be driven largely by socio-economic, environmental and ecological factors, but no comparative study has explicitly analysed these linkages to understand global temporal and spatial patterns of EIDs. Here we analyse a database of 335 EID 'events' (origins of EIDs) between 1940 and 2004, and demonstrate non-random global patterns. EID events have risen significantly over time after controlling for reporting bias, with their peak incidence (in the 1980s) concomitant with the HIV pandemic. EID events are dominated by zoonoses (60.3% of EIDs): the majority of these (71.8%) originate in wildlife (for example, severe acute respiratory virus, Ebola virus), and are increasing significantly over time. We find that 54.3% of EID events are caused by bacteria or rickettsia, reflecting a large number of drug-resistant microbes in our database. Our results confirm that EID origins are significantly correlated with socio-economic, environmental and ecological factors, and provide a basis for identifying regions where new EIDs are most likely to originate (emerging disease 'hotspots'). They also reveal a substantial risk of wildlife zoonotic and vector-borne EIDs originating at lower latitudes where reporting effort is low. We conclude that global resources to counter disease emergence are poorly allocated, with the majority of the scientific and surveillance effort focused on countries from where the next important EID is least likely to originate.
5,992 citations
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BirdLife International1, United Nations Environment Programme2, Zoological Society of London3, Statistics Netherlands4, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill5, Old Dominion University6, Conservation International7, Food and Agriculture Organization8, University of Virginia9, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds10, University of Queensland11, University of Cambridge12, National Center for Atmospheric Research13, World Wide Fund for Nature14, South African National Parks15, UNESCO16, University of British Columbia17, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research18, The Nature Conservancy19, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center20, American Bird Conservancy21, Stellenbosch University22, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources23
TL;DR: Most indicators of the state of biodiversity showed declines, with no significant recent reductions in rate, whereas indicators of pressures on biodiversity showed increases, indicating that the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2010 targets have not been met.
Abstract: In 2002, world leaders committed, through the Convention on Biological Diversity, to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. We compiled 31 indicators to report on progress toward this target. Most indicators of the state of biodiversity (covering species' population trends, extinction risk, habitat extent and condition, and community composition) showed declines, with no significant recent reductions in rate, whereas indicators of pressures on biodiversity (including resource consumption, invasive alien species, nitrogen pollution, overexploitation, and climate change impacts) showed increases. Despite some local successes and increasing responses (including extent and biodiversity coverage of protected areas, sustainable forest management, policy responses to invasive alien species, and biodiversity-related aid), the rate of biodiversity loss does not appear to be slowing.
3,993 citations
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TL;DR: These phenomena have two major biological implications: many wildlife species are reservoirs of pathogens that threaten domestic animal and human health; second, wildlife EIDs pose a substantial threat to the conservation of global biodiversity.
Abstract: Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) of free-living wild animals can be classified into three major groups on the basis of key epizootiological criteria: (i) EIDs associated with “spill-over” from domestic animals to wildlife populations living in proximity; (ii) EIDs related directly to human intervention, via host or parasite translocations; and (iii) EIDs with no overt human or domestic animal involvement. These phenomena have two major biological implications: first, many wildlife species are reservoirs of pathogens that threaten domestic animal and human health; second, wildlife EIDs pose a substantial threat to the conservation of global biodiversity.
3,757 citations
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TL;DR: These genome sequences augment the formidable genetic tools that have made Drosophila melanogaster a pre-eminent model for animal genetics, and will further catalyse fundamental research on mechanisms of development, cell biology, genetics, disease, neurobiology, behaviour, physiology and evolution.
Abstract: Comparative analysis of multiple genomes in a phylogenetic framework dramatically improves the precision and sensitivity of evolutionary inference, producing more robust results than single-genome analyses can provide. The genomes of 12 Drosophila species, ten of which are presented here for the first time (sechellia, simulans, yakuba, erecta, ananassae, persimilis, willistoni, mojavensis, virilis and grimshawi), illustrate how rates and patterns of sequence divergence across taxa can illuminate evolutionary processes on a genomic scale. These genome sequences augment the formidable genetic tools that have made Drosophila melanogaster a pre-eminent model for animal genetics, and will further catalyse fundamental research on mechanisms of development, cell biology, genetics, disease, neurobiology, behaviour, physiology and evolution. Despite remarkable similarities among these Drosophila species, we identified many putatively non-neutral changes in protein-coding genes, non-coding RNA genes, and cis-regulatory regions. These may prove to underlie differences in the ecology and behaviour of these diverse species.
2,057 citations
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Technische Universität München1, Australian National University2, Zoological Society of London3, American Museum of Natural History4, University of New South Wales5, Royal Botanic Gardens6, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center7, University of British Columbia8, University of Georgia9, Imperial College London10
TL;DR: The results show that the phylogenetic ‘fuses’ leading to the explosion of extant placental orders are not only very much longer than suspected previously, but also challenge the hypothesis that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event had a major, direct influence on the diversification of today’s mammals.
Abstract: Did the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event, by eliminating non-avian dinosaurs and most of the existing fauna, trigger the evolutionary radiation of present-day mammals? Here we construct, date and analyse a species-level phylogeny of nearly all extant Mammalia to bring a new perspective to this question. Our analyses of how extant lineages accumulated through time show that net per-lineage diversification rates barely changed across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Instead, these rates spiked significantly with the origins of the currently recognized placental superorders and orders approximately 93 million years ago, before falling and remaining low until accelerating again throughout the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. Our results show that the phylogenetic 'fuses' leading to the explosion of extant placental orders are not only very much longer than suspected previously, but also challenge the hypothesis that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event had a major, direct influence on the diversification of today's mammals.
1,994 citations
Authors
Showing all 1826 results
Name | H-index | Papers | Citations |
---|---|---|---|
Stephen J. O'Brien | 153 | 1062 | 93025 |
James H. Brown | 125 | 423 | 72040 |
Michael R. Hoffmann | 109 | 500 | 63474 |
Stephen P. Long | 103 | 384 | 46119 |
Andrew J. King | 102 | 882 | 46038 |
Robert K. Wayne | 96 | 315 | 36059 |
Tim M. Blackburn | 92 | 320 | 33755 |
Georgina M. Mace | 91 | 265 | 53514 |
Andrew Balmford | 91 | 290 | 33359 |
Paul H. Harvey | 87 | 254 | 37475 |
Dave Goulson | 84 | 303 | 27393 |
Walter Jetz | 82 | 195 | 28437 |
Michael William Bruford | 80 | 369 | 23635 |
Peter W. Carr | 77 | 517 | 22507 |
Alex Rogers | 73 | 483 | 22094 |