Chromatic and Morphological Differentiation of (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) with Land Use Diversity in El Salvador.

Chagas disease is caused by the parasite , which is transmitted by insect-vectors in the taxonomic subfamily Triatominae and affects approximately 8,000,000 people world-wide. Current mitigation strategies for Chagas focus on insecticides, infrastructure improvements, and management of symptoms, which are largely unsustainable in underserved communities where the disease is widespread. Transmission patterns of vector-borne diseases are known to adaptively respond to habitat change; as such, the objective of our study was to evaluate how the physical characteristics of would vary in relation to land use in El Salvador.

Water mite assemblages reveal diverse genera, novel DNA barcodes and transitional periods of intermediate disturbance.

Water mites are important constituents of aquatic ecosystems, but their biodiversity is poorly understood. The goal of this study was to improve knowledge of water mite assemblages in the Detroit River through combined use of morphological and cytochrome oxidase I (COI) DNA barcode data and to elucidate seasonal water mite diversity. The diversity of water mites collected from Blue Heron Lagoon at Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, is described.

Morphological variability and ecological characterization of the Chagas disease vector Triatoma dimidiata (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in El Salvador.

There are 8 million people with Chagas disease worldwide and in El Salvador approximately 39% of the population is at risk of contracting the disease. One of the principal challenges in mitigating Chagas is evaluating the role of the vector ecology of triatomine species in the transmission of the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite in anthropogenically modified habitats, where new patterns of transmission frequently arise. Field studies of triatomine vector ecology in El Salvador have largely focused on describing parameters that contribute to infestation patterns, which may themselves be rooted in the morphological variability that exists in triatomine populations.

An assessment of fecal indicator and other bacteria from an urbanized coastal lagoon in the City of Los Angeles, California, USA.

A study was performed in Del Rey Lagoon, City of Los Angeles, to determine if the lagoon was as a source or sink for fecal indicator bacteria (FIB: total coliforms, Escherichia coli, enterococci) and to screen for the presence of other potentially pathogenic bacteria. The lagoon receives tidal flows from the adjacent Ballona Estuary whose water usually is contaminated with FIB originating from the highly urbanized Ballona Creek Watershed. During 16 sampling events from February 2008 through March 2009, replicate water samples (n = 3) were collected 1 h prior to the high tide and 1 h prior to the following low tide.