Locations In Africa Research Articles

Genetic Consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Americas

According to historical records of transatlantic slavery, traders forcibly deported an estimated 12.5 million people from ports along the Atlantic coastline of Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries, with global impacts reaching to the present day, more than a century and a half after slavery’s abolition. Such records have fueled a broad understanding of the forced migration from Africa to the Americas yet remain underexplored in concert with genetic data. Here, we analyzed genotype array data from 50,281 research participants, which—combined with historical shipping documents—illustrate that the current genetic landscape of the Americas is largely concordant with expectations derived from documentation of slave voyages. For instance, genetic connections between people in slave trading regions of Africa and disembarkation regions of the Americas generally mirror the proportion of individuals forcibly moved between those regions. While some discordances can be explained by additional records of deportations within the Americas, other discordances yield insights into variable survival rates and timing of arrival of enslaved people from specific regions of Africa. Furthermore, the greater contribution of African women to the gene pool compared to African men varies across the Americas, consistent with literature documenting regional differences in slavery practices. This investigation of the transatlantic slave trade, which is broad in scope in terms of both datasets and analyses, establishes genetic links between individuals in the Americas and populations across Atlantic Africa, yielding a more comprehensive understanding of the African roots of peoples of the Americas.

Qualitative assessment of 27 current-use pesticides in air at 20 sampling sites across Africa

Increasing use of current-use pesticides (CUPs) in Africa raises environmental and public health concerns. But there is a large uncertainty about their occurrence and the composition of pesticide mixtures on this continent. This paper investigates the presence of 27 CUPs in air across 20 sampling sites in Africa. 166 passive air samples, consisting of polyurethane foam (PUF), were collected in 12 African countries between 2010 and 2018. Samples were extracted with methanol and analyzed via high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. The detection frequencies of CUPs per site were compared to land use patterns and sampling years, while their similarities were assessed using hierarchical cluster analysis. Overall, 24 CUPs were detected at least once. In 93% of all samples, at least one CUP was detected, while 78% of the samples had mixtures of two or more CUPs (median 3, interquartile range 5). Atrazine and chlorpyrifos were detected in 19 out of 20 sampling sites. Carbaryl, metazachlor, simazine, tebuconazole and terbuthylazine had the highest detection frequencies at sampling sites dominated by croplands. Across all the sampling years, 16 CUPs were present. Seven CUPs were newly detected from 2016 onwards (azinfos-methyl, dimetachlor, chlorsulfuron, chlortoluron, isoproturon, prochloraz and pyrazon), while metamitron was only present before 2012. Sites within a radius of about 200 km showed similarities in detected CUP mixtures across all samples. Our results show the presence of CUP mixtures across multiple agricultural and urban locations in Africa which requires further investigation of related environmental and human health risks.

African Migration Narratives: Politics, Race, and Space

Reviewed by: African Migration Narratives: Politics, Race, and Space ed. by Cajetan Iheka and Jack Taylor Sule Emmanuel Egya African Migration Narratives: Politics, Race, and Space EDS. CAJETAN IHEKA AND JACK TAYLOR U of Rochester P, 2018. vii + 310 pp. ISBN 9781580469340 cloth. Migration, one of the disturbing transnational realities of the twenty-first century, is increasingly receiving inter/multidisciplinary attention from scholars across the world. One of the latest efforts in this regard is African Migration Narratives: Politics, Race, and Space, edited by Cajetan Iheka and Jack Taylor. The focus of this volume is on Africa, a continent in contradictions: a place endowed with natural and human resources, but mismanaged to such a pitiable extent that its inhabitants seek survival in the West or elsewhere. The editors begin the introduction with anecdotes that emphasize the critical condition of the continent, ending with something that sounds like a plea "to nudge humanity toward justice—to encourage the reader to welcome in advance the ones who have yet to come" (14). In the editors' view, this is a call to democratize global resources, but it may have unwittingly lent credence to the notion that migration is the only way out of economic miseries for people in Africa. The volume, however, contains essays not as patronizing as the introduction sounds. Some of the essays interrogate the very acts of migration, foregrounding its consequences on not just the individual lives of the migrants, but also on the diasporic communities they have built in their hostland. One significance of this volume is the prioritization of representation as a cultural act. Migration, that is, is seen as mediated by artistic and cultural imaginations—imaginations as diverse as their aesthetic locations. The volume is therefore an offering of migrant arts and [End Page 211] writings from Nigeria, Algeria, Peru, Burkina Faso, Angola, and other locations in Africa and South America. There are fifteen essays, grouped into four parts, each with a headline that captures mainly the genre or the location. For instance, part one is titled "African Migration on the Screen: Films of Migration," the emphasis being on the genre of film studies. Part two is "Forgotten Diasporas: Lusophone and Indian Diasporas," the essays emphasizing the location markers "Lusophone" and "Indian." The essays are studies of recent works in film, literature (fiction and nonfiction), and visual art, in nuanced ways that match craft with sociological and historical issues. Valérie K. Orlando's "Harragas, Global Subjects, and Failed Deterritorializations: The Tragedies of Illegal Mediterranean Crossings in Maghrebi Cinema" is a study of two movies, Merzak Allouache's Harragas [The Burners] and Mostefa Djadam's Frontières. In explaining the word "harragas," Orlando gives sociolinguistic insight regarding its semanticization as "burning" to capture the desperation and waste attendant to migration in northern Africa. Her analysis of the two films points to the eventualities of the Western capitalist, exploitative system that consumes the hopes of migrants. Other films studied in this volume are Sylvester Amoussou's Africa Paradis, Chineze Anyaene's Ije: The Journey, and four Nollywood comedies on the related issue of visas: Osuofia in London, American Visa, 30 Days in Atlanta, and Visa Lottery. In a similar vein, Isidore Diala's chapter, "Esiaba Irobi: Poetry at the Margins," follows the saga of the Nigerian poet Esiaba Irobi, an embattled migrant yearning for home, in the real and symbolic sense, until his death in Germany. Reading some of Irobi's autobiographical poems, Diala blends reality and the imaginary by casting Irobi as an intellectual exile in the sense Edward Said propounds it. Other writers discussed in different essays are Nadine Gordimer, Noo Saro-Wiwa, Teju Cole, Jose Agualusa, Mia Cauto, and Germano Almeida, among others. The world of artwork and material culture is powerfully represented, among others, by Gilbert Shang Ndi's chapter, "Reimaging Blackness in a Hybridized and Racialized Space: The Visual Landscapes of the Peruvian District of El Carmen, Chincha." Ndi studies how Peruvian Africans, specifically of the El Carmen community, project their unique music and gastronomy through artworks. Images in the forms of photographs, paintings, billboards, posters, and handwritten slates are embedded with unique folkways and histories, the import of which this chapter unveils...

Genetic Dissection of Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Tropical Maize Through Genome-Wide Association and Genomic Prediction.

In sub-Saharan Africa, one of the major challenges to smallholder farmers is soil with low fertility and inability to apply nitrogen fertilizer externally due to the cost. Development of maize hybrids, which perform better in nitrogen depleted soils, is one of the promising solutions. However, breeding maize for nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is hindered by expensive phenotypic evaluations and trait complexity under low N stress. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) and genomic prediction (GP) are promising tools to circumvent this interference. Here, we evaluated a mapping panel in diverse environments both under optimum and low N management. The objective of this study was to identify SNPs significantly associated with grain yield (GY) and other traits through GWAS and assess the potential of GP under low N and optimum conditions. Testcross progenies of 411 inbred lines were planted under optimum and low N conditions in several locations in Africa and Latin America. In all locations, low N fields were previously depleted over several seasons, and no N fertilizer was applied throughout the growing season. All inbred lines were genotyped with genotyping by sequencing. Genotypic and GxE interaction variances were significant, and heritability estimates were moderate to high for all traits under both optimum and low N conditions. Genome-wide LD decay at r2 = 0.2 and r2 = 0.34 were 0.24 and 0.19 Mbp, respectively. Chromosome-specific LD decays ranged from 0.13 to 0.34 Mbps with an average of 0.22 Mbp at r2 = 0.2. GWAS analyses revealed 38 and 45 significant SNPs under optimum and low N conditions, respectively. Out of these 83 significant SNPs, 3 SNPs on chromosomes 1, 2, and 6 were associated either with different traits or the same trait under different management conditions, suggesting pleiotropic effects of genes. A total of 136 putative candidate genes were associated with the significant SNPs, of which seven SNPs were linked with four known genes. Prediction accuracies were moderate to high for all traits under both optimum and low N conditions. These results can be used as useful resources for further applications to develop hybrids or lines with better performance under low N conditions.

Anogenital Human Papillomavirus and HIV Infection in Rwandan Men Who Have Sex With Men

Background:Men who have sex with men (MSM) have a high prevalence of anal and penile human papillomavirus (HPV) infections with MSM living with HIV (MSMLH) bearing the highest rates. Data on anogenital high-risk HPV (hrHPV) among MSM in Rwanda and the associated risk factors are scant.Methods:We recruited 350 self-identified MSM aged 18 years living in Kigali, Rwanda, with 300 recruited from the community and 50 from partner clinics. Anal and penile specimens from all participants were analyzed for hrHPV using the AmpFire platform. Logistic regression was used to calculate crude odds ratios (ORs) and adjusted ORs (aORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) as a measure of association between various factors and anal and penile hrHPV infection prevalence.Results:Anal hrHPV prevalence was 20.1%, was positively associated with having receptive anal sex with more partners (aOR: 9.21, 95% CI: 3.66 to 23.14), and was negatively associated with having insertive anal sex with more partners (aOR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.66). Penile hrHPV prevalence was 35.0%, was negatively associated with having receptive anal sex with more partners (aOR: 0.29, 95% CI: 0.13 to 0.66), and differed significantly by HIV status, with 55.2% and 29.7% for MSMLH and HIV-negative MSM, respectively (P < 0.01).Conclusion:Penile hrHPV prevalence was higher than that of anal hrHPV and it was significantly higher in Rwandan MSMLH than in HIV-negative MSM. The prevalence of anal and penile HPV infections is likely variable at different locations in Africa, according to a number of factors including HIV status and sexual practices.

Reconstructing early routes of invasion of the bronze bug Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Hemiptera: Thaumastocoridae): cities as bridgeheads for global pest invasions

Insect pest invasions pose a major threat to agriculture, forestry and many natural ecosystems. Thaumastocoris peregrinus is an invasive sap-sucking pest of significant economic importance to Eucalyptus forestry that has recently invaded several countries worldwide. In this study we identify the origin and retrace the invasion history of T. peregrinus. We analysed samples from six locations in Africa, South America and Australia using microsatellites markers and a combination of clustering methods and scenario testing using Approximate Bayesian Clustering. We detected clear genetic substructure differentiating African and South American samples, with representatives of both present in Australia. The Australian population from New South Wales showed substantially higher genetic diversity than the Queensland source, which could indicate that this region could be part of the core range and evolutionary origin of the species. Africa and South America were colonised by independent introductions that occurred more or less concurrently. The study illustrates the impact of the bridgehead effect on global invasions following an outbreak or ‘invasion’ within a city in the native range of the insect.

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Two multi-stigmate &lt;em&gt;Gomphonema&lt;/em&gt; species of Africa: &lt;em&gt;Gomphonema kalahariense &lt;/em&gt;(&lt;em&gt;nom. nov., stat. nov.&lt;/em&gt;) and &lt;em&gt;Gomphonema chemeron&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;sp. nov.&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

The taxonomy and morphology of two taxa of the diatom genus Gomphonema with multiple stigmata from fossil localities in Africa are considered. Light and scanning electron microscopy as well as quantitative analysis of valve shape suggest two taxa are present in these collections. One of them, previously described as Gomphonema ventricosum var. africana, has 2–4 stigmata and conforms well with the original illustration of this taxon by Reichelt. However, this taxon does not appear to be closely related to G. ventricosum, and is a species in its own right, so a new name, G. kalahariense nom. nov., stat. nov. Jeff.R.Stone &amp; Kociolek is proposed. This species is known from modern and fossil locations in Africa. A second species, Gomphonema chemeron Jeff.R.Stone, Westover &amp; Kociolek sp. nov. is described from diatomite deposits of the Baringo Basin, Kenya, that are approximately 2.6 million years of age. This species, with 3–7 stigmata, has a distinctive shape and is easily distinguished from G. kalahariense. We compare these species with other multi-stigmate members of Gomphonema, including G. krammeri Reichardt, a fossil species described from Mexico and Cuba.

A 100% Renewable CHP System for a Remote Area Power Supply

Most remote locations in Africa are nonelectrified due to the sites' location as opposed to the main utility grids. Studies carried out to assess the possibilities of extending the grids to reach these areas have shown in most cases that the solution is not economic due to the inability of the inhabitants to afford the electricity bills, in addition to the lack of important economic activities. An alternative solution is the use of off-grid power systems. Different configurations of off-grid power systems may be possible depending on the available resources, however, as remote area activities are based on farming and agriculture, organic matters from plants and animals can be used as primary energy to produce biogas and generate electricity and heat. In this study, a renewable combined heat and power (CHP) system using biogas is proposed as a solution to meet the electrical and thermal loads of a remote area in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The objective of the study is to assess the potential of implementing a biomass-based combined heat power system in a rural area by considering a total of twenty agricultural households. It is considered that a single household has an average of five species of livestock including cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. The type of biomass used in the study consists of manure released by the selected livestock. A technoeconomic evaluation is carried out using the electrical and thermal load requirement of the twenty households. Sensitivity analyses are carried on evaluating the Net Present Cost and Cost of Energy in case the discount and inflation rates vary. The modelling and simulation is carried using Homer Pro software.

Ebony and the Mascarenes: the evolutionary relationships and biogeography of Diospyros (Ebenaceae) in the western Indian Ocean

AbstractUsing analyses that exhaustively sampled Mascarene Diospyros and included representative taxa from Madagascar and other regions, we explored: (1) evolutionary relationships among Diospyros spp. across the WIO and (2) biogeographic connections of Malagasy taxa with those in surrounding regions, particularly focusing on connections with taxa in the Mascarene Islands. We obtained plastid sequence data for 146 Diospyros taxa, including 40 species not previously included in molecular analyses, and conducted Bayesian and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyses, divergence-time estimation and ancestral area reconstructions. Diospyros sampled from Madagascar fell into two clades, one of which contains all but two Malagasy species. Biogeographic analyses revealed that many clades probably originated in Madagascar and dispersed to locations in Africa and the Mascarenes, indicating that Madagascar may have acted as an important source of diversity for the region.

Unexpected Diversity of Wolbachia Associated with Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Africa.

Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) is an important pest of fruit-bearing plants in many countries worldwide. In Africa, this pest has spread rapidly and has become widely established since the first invasion report in 2003. Wolbachia is a vertically transmitted endosymbiont that can significantly influence aspects of the biology and, in particular, the reproduction of its host. In this study, we screened B. dorsalis specimens collected from several locations in Africa between 2005 and 2017 for Wolbachia using a PCR-based assay to target the Wolbachia surface protein wsp. Of the 357 individuals tested, 10 were positive for Wolbachia using the wsp assay. We identified four strains of Wolbachia infecting two B. dorsalis mitochondrial haplotypes. We found no strict association between the infecting strain and host haplotype, with one strain being present in two different host haplotypes. All the detected strains belonged to Super Group B Wolbachia and did not match any strains reported previously in B. dorsalis in Asia. These findings indicate that diverse Wolbachia infections are present in invasive populations of B. dorsalis.

Head and neck cancer in Africa

Management is a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Published guidelines are available for the developed world, but there are no official guidelines for Africa. Aim: The aim of the survey was to describe diagnosis and management of head and neck cancer in Africa. Setting: This study was undertaken by a clinical oncologist employed by the state sector in South Africa. Methods: An online, cross-sectional electronic survey was mailed to oncologists and surgeons, working in the field of head and neck cancer in Africa. The survey was open from August 2016 to January 2017. Questions were posed about diagnosis and management. Results: Thirty-nine respondents from different locations in Africa responded. All the respondents practised in urban centres in their respective countries. Sixty-three per cent identified as oncologists. The remainder identified as surgeons. A third of the respondents see more than 200 head and neck patients per year. Access to diagnostic tools as well as therapy resources was limited. Forty per cent of the patients were assessed in a multidisciplinary clinic. Surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy are important modes of therapy, in the setting of locally advanced disease. Two-dimensional radiotherapy and clinical mark-up were utilised by 47% and 34% of respondents, respectively. A substantial proportion of patients with curative disease were treated palliatively. Conclusion: Trainers from well-established centres in Africa need to develop coordinated training programmes to facilitate the establishment of multidisciplinary teams. This will aid in the development of local, relevant protocols.

African leaders and the geography of China's foreign assistance

We investigate whether foreign aid from China is prone to political capture in aid-receiving countries. Specifically, we examine whether more Chinese aid is allocated to the birth regions of political leaders, controlling for indicators of need and various fixed effects. We collect data on 117 African leaders' birthplaces and geocode 1650 Chinese development projects across 2969 physical locations in Africa from 2000 to 2012. Our econometric results show that political leaders' birth regions receive substantially larger financial flows from China in the years when they hold power compared to what the same region receives at other times. We find evidence that these biases are a consequence of electoral competition: Chinese aid disproportionately benefits politically privileged regions in country-years when incumbents face upcoming elections and when electoral competitiveness is high. We observe no such pattern of favoritism in the spatial distribution of World Bank development projects.

Evidence that a major subpopulation of fall armyworm found in the Western Hemisphere is rare or absent in Africa, which may limit the range of crops at risk of infestation.

The introduction and establishment of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) in Africa presents a major threat to agriculture in that continent and potentially to the entire Eastern Hemisphere. The species is subdivided into two subpopulations called the R-strain and C-strain that differ in their distribution on different plant hosts. This means that the scope of the economic risk posed by invasive fall armyworm is influenced by whether one or both strains are present. Multiple studies have found mitochondrial markers diagnostic of the two strains throughout Africa but there is substantial disagreement with a nuclear strain marker that makes conclusions about strain composition uncertain. In this study the issue of whether both strains are present in Africa was tested by an assay that can detect strain-biased mating behaviors. Western Hemisphere fall armyworm consistently showed evidence of strain-specific assortative mating in the field that was not found in surveys from multiple locations in Africa. The absence of strain mating biases and the disagreements between the strain diagnostic genetic markers indicates that the R-strain is rare (<1% of the population) or absent in Africa. Instead, it appears that the African fall armyworm populations are dominated by two groups, the C-strain and the descendants of interstrain hybrids. These results suggest that plant hosts associated with the R-strain may not be at high risk of fall armyworm infestation in Africa.

Dyslipidaemia among Ghanaian migrants in three European countries and their compatriots in rural and urban Ghana: The RODAM study

Background and aimsAfrican populations have a favourable lipid profile compared to European populations. However, the extent to which they differ between rural and urban settings in Africa and upon migration to Europe is unknown. We assessed the lipid profiles of Ghanaians living in rural- and urban-Ghana and Ghanaian migrants living in three European countries. MethodsWe used data from a multi-centre, cross-sectional study among Ghanaian adults residing in rural- and urban-Ghana and London, Amsterdam and Berlin (n = 5482). Dyslipidaemias were defined using the 2012 European Guidelines on Cardiovascular Prevention. Comparisons between groups were made using age-standardised prevalence and prevalence ratios (PRs) with adjustments for important covariates. ResultsIn both sexes, the age-standardised prevalence of high total cholesterol (TC) and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) was lower in rural- than in urban-Ghana and Ghanaian migrants in Europe. Adjusted PRs of high TC and LDL-C were higher in urban-Ghana (TC PR = 2.15, 95%confidence interval 1.69–2.73) and Ghanaian migrant men (TC PR = 2.03 (1.56–2.63)) compared to rural-Ghana, but there was no difference between rural- and Ghanaian migrant women (TC PR = 1.01 (0.84–1.22)). High triglycerides levels were as prevalent in rural-Ghana (11.6%) as in urban-Ghana (12.8%), but were less prevalent in Ghanaian migrant women (2.0%). In both sexes, low HDL-cholesterol was most prevalent in rural-Ghana (50.1%) and least prevalent in Europe (12.9%). ConclusionThe lipid profile varied among ethnically homogeneous African populations living in different geographical locations in Africa and Europe. Additional research is needed to identify factors driving these differential risks to assist prevention efforts.

Mycotoxin concentrations in rice from three climatic locations in Africa as affected by grain quality, production site, and storage duration.

Information on the mycotoxin contamination of rice in Africa is limited although the risk of contamination is high. In this study, domestic milled rice processed by actors using suboptimal methods was purchased and total fumonisin (FUM), zearalenone, and aflatoxin concentrations determined at 0, 90, and 180 days after storage. Three different climatic locations, Cotonou (Benin) in the Guinea savanna, Yaoundé (Cameroon) in the Tropical forest, and N'diaye (Senegal) in the Sahel, were selected as storage sites. Subsets of the samples collected from Glazoue (Benin), Ndop (Cameroon), and Dagana (Senegal) were stored in plastic woven bags under room conditions in the respective sites with or without calcium oxide (burnt scallop shell—BSS, 0.1% w/w) treatment. Multivariance analysis showed that FUM concentration was positively influenced by the duration of storage only while zearalenone concentration was negatively influenced by relative humidity and head rice but positively by impurities. Zearalenone concentration was also influenced by sample collection/storage location, processing type, and duration of storage. Aflatoxin concentration was influenced negatively by storage room temperature and head rice but positively by impurities and chalky grains. In addition, aflatoxin concentration was influenced by collection/storage location and processing type. BSS treatment followed by storage for 6 months had no effect on the concentration of the three assessed mycotoxins. Strategies to reduce the risk of mycotoxin contamination in study sites will include the improvement of physical rice quality through better pre‐ and postharvest practices and proper packaging of both treated rice and untreated rice in hermetic systems before marketing and storage.

Patterns of the China-Africa research collaborations from 2006 to 2016: a bibliometric analysis

International collaboration with the Western countries has over the years been the main component of research and development in Africa’s higher education. However, Africa continues to lag behind in research performance. In the last decade, the rise of China brought on board an additional partnership through the Forum on China-Africa Collaboration initiatives guided by China-Africa policy. In view of the growing scepticism and misgivings over the China approach to collaboration with Africa, assessing patterns of progress by the China-Africa research collaborations cannot be ignored. Using bibliometric analysis of research data from InCites, the study reveals that the partnership is growing progressively in absolute terms though with high levels of relative growth rate. A few of the African countries are more engaged than the others. Fortunately for Africa, the partnership involves the physical sciences where the continent is greatly lacking and high impact is being registered. The study has the implication that while Africa needs to address issues of policy on sciences and funding for research in higher education, China equally needs to go beyond the current locations in Africa and equally engage with the lesser developed players on the continent.

Identifying Substandard Medications in Developing Nations

Access to adequate and quality health care is a worldwide concern. Without proper access to medicine individuals will often suffer diseases that could be treated or prevented with the proper medicine. Proper dosage is also necessary so that patients can recover from the disease as well as stop the production of drug resistant bacteria and parasites. In collaboration with Norte Dame University, a protocol, using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), was developed to quantify the amount of Albendazole, a deworming medication, in tablets from locations in Africa to ensure proper dosage. A Spike and Recovery, a secondary verification method, was developed to verify the efficiency of the column and protocol used. Optimization of the Spike and Recovery method was completed and showed that the efficiency of the column was 97 ± 1 %. Using this protocol, multiple samples have been quantified with one sample falling below the advertised dosage.Support or Funding InformationGrow Iowa Values FundThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Comparative molecular analyses of invasive fall armyworm in Togo reveal strong similarities to populations from the eastern United States and the Greater Antilles.

The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, J.E. Smith) is a noctuid moth that is a major and ubiquitous agricultural pest in the Western Hemisphere. Infestations have recently been identified in several locations in Africa, indicating its establishment in the Eastern Hemisphere where it poses an immediate and significant economic threat. Genetic methods were used to characterize noctuid specimens infesting multiple cornfields in the African nation of Togo that were tentatively identified as fall armyworm by morphological criteria. Species identification was confirmed by DNA barcoding and the specimens were found to be primarily of the subgroup that preferentially infests corn and sorghum in the Western Hemisphere. The mitochondrial haplotype configuration was most similar to that found in the Caribbean region and the eastern coast of the United States, identifying these populations as the likely originating source of the Togo infestations. A genetic marker linked with resistance to the Cry1Fa toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) expressed in transgenic corn and common in Puerto Rico fall armyworm populations was not found in the Togo collections. These observations demonstrate the usefulness of genetic surveys to characterize fall armyworm populations from Africa.

Correction: Genetic Dissection of Drought and Heat Tolerance in Chickpea through Genome-Wide and Candidate Gene-Based Association Mapping Approaches.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096758.].

The importance of temperature fluctuations in understanding mosquito population dynamics and malaria risk.

Temperature is a key environmental driver of Anopheles mosquito population dynamics; understanding its central role is important for these malaria vectors. Mosquito population responses to temperature fluctuations, though important across the life history, are poorly understood at a population level. We used stage-structured, temperature-dependent delay-differential equations to conduct a detailed exploration of the impacts of diurnal and annual temperature fluctuations on mosquito population dynamics. The model allows exploration of temperature-driven temporal changes in adult age structure, giving insights into the population’s capacity to vector malaria parasites. Because of temperature-dependent shifts in age structure, the abundance of potentially infectious mosquitoes varies temporally, and does not necessarily mirror the dynamics of the total adult population. In addition to conducting the first comprehensive theoretical exploration of fluctuating temperatures on mosquito population dynamics, we analysed observed temperatures at four locations in Africa covering a range of environmental conditions. We found both temperature and precipitation are needed to explain the observed malaria season in these locations, enhancing our understanding of the drivers of malaria seasonality and how temporal disease risk may shift in response to temperature changes. This approach, tracking both mosquito abundance and age structure, may be a powerful tool for understanding current and future malaria risk.