Opportunities to improve goat production and food security in Botswana through forage nutrition and the use of supplemental feeds.

Goats fulfil a central role in food and nutritional security across Africa with over half of households owning or rearing goats in rural areas. However, goat performance is poor and mortality high. This study assessed the nutritional quality of commonly used feeds and proposes feed-baskets to enhance goat nutrition and health.

The Fall Armyworm and Larger Grain Borer Pest Invasions in Africa: Drivers, Impacts and Implications for Food Systems.

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a major biosecurity threat affecting globalisation and the international trade of agricultural products and natural ecosystems. In recent decades, for example, field crop and postharvest grain insect pests have independently accounted for a significant decline in food quantity and quality. Nevertheless, how their interaction and cumulative effects along the ever-evolving field production to postharvest continuum contribute towards food insecurity remain scant in the literature.

Sub-optimal host plants have developmental and thermal fitness costs to the invasive fall armyworm.

The fall armyworm (FAW) (J.E. Smith) is a global invasive pest of cereals.

Global patterns in endemicity and vulnerability of soil fungi.

Fungi are highly diverse organisms, which provide multiple ecosystem services. However, compared with charismatic animals and plants, the distribution patterns and conservation needs of fungi have been little explored. Here, we examined endemicity patterns, global change vulnerability and conservation priority areas for functional groups of soil fungi based on six global surveys using a high-resolution, long-read metabarcoding approach.

Biogeography of cereal stemborers and their natural enemies: forecasting pest management efficacy under changing climate.

Background: Climate warming presents physiological challenges to insects, manifesting as loss of key life-history fitness traits and survival. For interacting host-parasitoid species, physiological responses to heat stress may vary, thereby potentially uncoupling trophic ecological relationships. Here, we assessed heat tolerance traits and sensitivity to prevailing and future maximum temperatures for the cereal stemborer pests, Chilo partellus, Busseola fusca and Sesamia calamistis and their endo-parasitoids, Cotesia sesamiae and Cotesia flavipes.

Understanding costs and benefits of thermal plasticity for pest management: insights from the integration of laboratory, semi-field and field assessments of (Diptera: Tephritidae).

The relative costs and benefits of thermal acclimation for manipulating field performance of pest insects depend upon a number of factors including which traits are affected and how persistent any trait changes are in different environments. By assessing plastic trait responses of (Mediterranean fruit fly) across three distinct operational environments (laboratory, semi-field, and field), we examined the influence of different thermal acclimation regimes (cool, intermediate [or handling control], and warm) on thermal tolerance traits (chill-coma recovery, heat-knockdown time, critical thermal minimum and critical thermal maximum) and flight performance (mark-release-recapture). Under laboratory conditions, thermal acclimation altered thermal limits in a relatively predictable manner and there was a generally positive effect across all traits assessed, although some traits responded more strongly.

Context-dependent integrated stress resistance promotes a global invasive pest.

In nature, insects concurrently face multiple environmental stressors, a scenario likely increasing with climate change. Integrated stress resistance (ISR) thus often improves fitness and could drive invasiveness, but how physiological mechanisms influence invasion has lacked examination. Here, we investigated cross-tolerance to abiotic stress factors which may influence range limits in the South American tomato pinworm-a global invader that is an ecologically and socially damaging crop pest.

Geographic dispersion of invasive crop pests: the role of basal, plastic climate stress tolerance and other complementary traits in the tropics.

Global pest invasions have significantly increased in recent years. These invasions together with climate warming directly impact agriculture. Tropical climates feature extreme weather events, including high temperatures and seasonal droughts.

Limited thermal plasticity may constrain ecosystem function in a basally heat tolerant tropical telecoprid dung beetle, Allogymnopleurus thalassinus (Klug, 1855).

Tropical organisms are more vulnerable to climate change and associated heat stress as they live close to their upper thermal limits (UTLs). UTLs do not only vary little across tropical species according to the basal versus plasticity 'trade-off' theory but may also be further constrained by low genetic variation. We tested this hypothesis, and its effects on ecosystem function using a diurnally active dung rolling beetle (telecoprid), Allogymnopleurus thalassinus (Klug, 1855) that inhabits arid environments.

Surveillance Studies Reveal Diverse and Potentially Pathogenic-Incriminated Vector Mosquito Species across Major Botswana Touristic Hotspots.

Vector mosquitoes contribute significantly to the global burden of diseases in humans, livestock and wildlife. As such, the spatial distribution and abundance of mosquito species and their surveillance cannot be ignored. Here, we surveyed mosquito species across major tourism hotspots in semi-arid Botswana, including, for the first time, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

A Survey of Potentially Pathogenic-Incriminated Arthropod Vectors of Health Concern in Botswana.

Arthropod vectors play a crucial role in the transmission of many debilitating infections, causing significant morbidity and mortality globally. Despite the economic significance of arthropods to public health, public knowledge on vector biology, ecology and taxonomic status remains anecdotal and largely unexplored. The present study surveyed knowledge gaps regarding the biology and ecology of arthropod vectors in communities of Botswana, across all districts.

Density-dependent ecosystem service delivery under shifting temperatures by dung beetles.

Increases in the frequency and magnitude of suboptimal temperatures as a result of climate change are subjecting insects to unprecedented stresses. This may negatively affect their fitness and the efficiency of their ecosystem service provision. Dung beetles are ecosystem service providers: through feeding on and burying dung, they facilitate nutrient recycling, secondary seed dispersal, parasite control, soil bioturbation and dung decomposition.

Thermal limits and preferences of large branchiopods (Branchiopoda: Anostraca and Spinicaudata) from temporary wetland arid zone systems.

Large branchiopods are specialist crustaceans adapted for life in temporary, thermally dynamic wetland ecosystems. Certain large branchiopod species are, however, restricted to specific temporary wetland types, exemplified by their physico-chemical and hydroperiod characteristics. Here, we contrasted the thermal preference and critical thermal maxima (CT) and minima (CT) of southern African anostracans and spinicaudatans found exclusively in either temporary rock-pool or pan wetland types.

Water Balance and Desiccation Tolerance of the Invasive South American Tomato Pinworm.

Temperature and dehydration stress are two major co-occurring environmental stressors threatening the physiology, biochemistry, and ecology of insects. As such, understanding adaptive responses to desiccation stress is critical for predicting climate change impacts, particularly its influence on insect invasions. Here, we assessed water balance and desiccation resistance of the invasive Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), and infer how eco-physiology shapes its niche.

The complete mitogenome of Barnard, 1924, a rock pool clam shrimp (Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata) from Central District, Botswana.

Spinicaudatan clam shrimp are a widespread and diverse group of branchiopod crustaceans, yet few mitochondrial genomes have been published for this taxonomic group. Here, we present the mitogenome of from a rock pool ecosystem in Botswana. Massively parallel sequencing of a single specimen facilitated the reconstruction of the species' 15,579 bp circularized mitogenome.

Temperature and pH define the realised niche space of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are a globally distributed group of soil organisms that play critical roles in ecosystem function. However, the ecological niches of individual AM fungal taxa are poorly understood. We collected > 300 soil samples from natural ecosystems worldwide and modelled the realised niches of AM fungal virtual taxa (VT; approximately species-level phylogroups).

The complete mitogenome of an undescribed clam shrimp of the genus (Branchiopoda: Spinicaudata), from a temporary wetland in Central District, Botswana.

Clam shrimps (Spinicaudata) are a widespread and diverse crustacean group that frequent temporary aquatic habitats, but few complete mitochondrial genomes have been published for this group. Here, we report the mitogenome of an undescribed species from Botswana. Raw sequences were assembled into a single circular genome with a total length of 15,663 bp.

The complete mitogenome of the fairy shrimp (Lovén, 1847) (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Anostraca) from an ephemeral pond in Botswana, southern Africa.

Fairy shrimps (Anostraca) constitute an important component of seasonally aquatic habitats, but few complete mitochondrial genomes have been published for this group. Here, we report the mitogenome of a common southern African species, , from Botswana (accession number: MN720104). Low-coverage shotgun sequencing recovered two contigs 15653 bp and 1347 bp in length that are separated by a repetitive region of unknown length within the non-coding control region.

Implications of increasing temperature stress for predatory biocontrol of vector mosquitoes.

Background: Predators play a critical role in regulating larval mosquito prey populations in aquatic habitats. Understanding predator-prey responses to climate change-induced environmental perturbations may foster optimal efficacy in vector reduction. However, organisms may differentially respond to heterogeneous thermal environments, potentially destabilizing predator-prey trophic systems.

Spatial Anopheles arabiensis (Diptera: Culicidae) insecticide resistance patterns across malaria-endemic regions of Botswana.

Background: Since the advent of the Green Revolution, pesticides have played an important role in the global management of invertebrate pests including vector mosquitoes. Despite optimal efficacy, insects often display insensitivity to synthetic insecticides owing to prolonged exposure that may select for resistance development. Such insecticide insensitivity may regress national and regional coordination in mosquito vector management and indeed malaria control.

Are Vulnerable Communities Thoroughly Informed on Mosquito Bio-Ecology and Burden?

Mosquitoes account for a significant burden of morbidity and mortality globally. Despite evidence of (1) imminent anthropogenic climate and environmental changes, (2) vector-pathogen spatio-temporal dynamics and (3) emerging and re-emerging mosquito borne infections, public knowledge on mosquito bio-ecology remain scant. In particular, knowledge, attitude and practices (KAPs) on mosquitoes are often neglected despite otherwise expensive remedial efforts against consequent infections and other indirect effects associated with disease burden.

(Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) on the "Offensive" in Africa: Prospects for Integrated Management Initiatives.

The South American tomato pinworm (Meyrick) has aggressively invaded the African continent. Since its first detection in North Africa in Morocco and Tunisia in 2008, it has successfully invaded the entire southern, eastern and western Africa, where it has been on the offensive, causing significant damage to Solanaceous food crops. While control of this prolific invader is primarily based on conventional synthetic pesticides, this form of control is consistently losing societal approval owing to (1) pesticide resistance development and consequential loss of field efficacy; (2) growing public health concerns; (3) environmental contamination and loss of biological diversity and its associated ecological services; and (4) unsustainable costs, particularly for resource-poor African farmers.

Disease Vector Relative Spatio-Temporal Abundances to Water Bodies and Thermal Fitness Across Malaria Endemic Semi-Arid Areas.

The biophysical environment plays an important role in the spatio-temporal abundance and distribution of mosquitoes. This has implications for the spread of vectors and diseases they cause across diverse landscapes. Here, we assessed vector mosquito abundances in relation to large water bodies, from three malaria districts in a semi-arid environment.