The final recommendation will consider all of these comments and will try to combine the most popular parts of each scenario to guide the growth of the system moving forward.Ĭonvenient and cost-effective transit service requires a delicate balance of where buses travel, how often they arrive and what times of day they operate. Also consider what you would like to use the public transit system for. As you look at these scenarios, take note of what you like, what you dislike, and what you think is missing. Each scenario is a concept that is meant to show what the system could look like. Three scenarios were developed to help visualize ways to improve the system. Providing more direct service to popular destinations.After hearing from Durham residents through public meetings, conversations about the system, and an online survey, the GoDurham service planning team focused on: National Park Service, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of Texas Institute for Human Infection and Immunity funded the study.GoDurham is seeking input on a short-range transit plan that will guide how the GoDurham transit improves service over the next several years to better serve existing and potential riders, new developments, and essential services in our community. The Yale Institute of Biospheric Studies, the U.S. “It is surprising that mosquitoes have received so little attention in the Everglades restoration effort, considering their abundance and important natural role in the Everglades ecosystem,” he said.Īdditional authors of the study include Victoria Balta and James Underwood of the Yale Environmental Studies Program Robert Tesh, Hilda Guzman, Amelia Travassos da Rosa, and Nikos Vasilakis of the University of Texas Medical Branch and Charles Sither of North Carolina State University. This information will be important in directing future research efforts to understand how these viruses are maintained in one of the largest wetland ecosystems in the United States, Fish said. They also identified the few mosquito species that carry viruses among the 30 species found in the study.
In the study, researchers identified particular landscape features where virus-infected mosquitoes are most likely to be found, including cypress swamp, hardwood forest, pineland, and mangrove. More than 7 billion mosquitoes are estimated to exist in the Everglades. Mosquitoes and their viruses are part of natural ecosystems, and as more development encroaches on natural lands, more people will be exposed to these viruses, Fish said. Most originate from wildlife that infect mosquitoes which then transmit the virus to humans through their bites. There are more than 500 known mosquito-borne viruses and at least 100 can cause disease in humans. Additional studies are needed to detect an increase in virus activity that could pose a public health threat in the future, Fish said. The study, which is the first systematic review of mosquitoes in the Everglades and the viruses they carry, provides important baseline information for the anticipated environmental changes in the region, which include wetland restoration, climate change, proliferation of invasive species, and residential development. “The presence of these viruses is something that needs to be studied so we know what it means for public health,” said lead author Durland Fish, emeritus professor at the Yale School of Public Health. The study is published in the online journal PLOS One. The study found that the viruses were most prevalent in years when the water level was high, indicating that wetland restoration efforts and sea-level rise could result in more infected mosquitoes in the future. The public health significance of these viruses is largely unknown, but impending environmental changes in the Everglades could result in an increased abundance of virus-infected mosquitoes and, potentially, increased exposure to humans, researchers say. The viruses - including Everglades virus, Mahogany Hammock virus, Shark River virus, and Gumbo Limbo virus, among others - were first discovered more than 50 years ago in the Florida preserve but have received little attention since. The study revealed that several rare viruses are prevalent within the mosquito populations and were found in a third of 105 study sites. In four large nature areas encompassing over one million acres in the Everglades, the team conducted a two-year study of mosquitoes and the viruses they carry. A team of research scientists led by the Yale School of Public Health has detected the presence of little-known mosquito-borne viruses endemic to the Florida Everglades throughout the wetland preserve, raising concern about future public health threats.
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