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Berkeley BIOLOGY 1B - Ecology Lecture 1

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Biology 1B, Ecology Lecture 1, Page 1 Professor Resh • Spring 2008The Control of River Blindness in West Africa: an example of what we will discuss in ecology andevolutionary biology during the last part of the semesterOutline of Lecture 1A. What is Onchocerciasis?B. What causes it?C. How is it controlled?D. What happened after Onchocerciasis wascontrolled?E. Geopolitics and disease control programsF. Skin pigmentation and human evolutionA. What is Onchocerciasis?Onchocerciasis—or river blindness—is a humandisease that may results in 10-30% of villagers inWest Africa becoming blind.It is known from Africa and parts of SouthAmerica, but 99% of the blindness from it occursin West Africa.Early stages include rashes, severe itching.Blindness results from immune response.B. What causes it?1. It is transmitted by the black flySimulium damnosum2. It is caused by the filarial wormOnchocerca volvulusC. How is it controlled?1. Control of the black fly vectorthrough insecticide applications(30,000 miles of river per week for20 years)Biology 1B, Ecology Lecture 1, Page 2 Professor Resh • Spring 2008The Control of River Blindness in West Africa: an example of what we will discuss in ecology andevolutionary biology during the last part of the semester2. Control of parasitic worms throughchemotherapy (distribution of Ivermectindrugs to 7 million people in 11 severelyaffected countries)3. The control is based on biodiversity—ofthe vector and parasite, the insecticidesused, drugs distributed, and non-targetfauna4. This disease is an example of evolution andecology in disease control!D. What happened after Onchocerciasis wascontrolled?1. Food is now grown to feed anadditional 17 million people2. However, unplanned resettlementof river valleys freed fromOnchocerciasis led to unsustainableagriculture and soil erosion3. Distribution of bed nets for malariacontrol and drugs for lymphaticfilariasisE. Geopolitics (wars, political strife) canaffect the most successful disease programF. Skin pigmentation has involved 5 millionyears of evolution.1. What is the color of chimpanzee’sface?2. Hair becomes a disadvantage withincreased activity because ofevaporative cooling. Melanin skinevolves 1.6 MYA.Biology 1B, Ecology Lecture 1, Page 3 Professor Resh • Spring 2008The Control of River Blindness in West Africa: an example of what we will discuss in ecology andevolutionary biology during the last part of the semesterG. Ultraviolet light has negative and positiveaspects.1. Causes DNA damage, breaks downfoliates important for neurelation.2. UVB catalizes vitamin Dproduction through the skin3. The razor’s edge of skinpigmentation: too dark or too light?H. The balance between skin pigmentationand available sunlight may be affected byhuman migrations, and cultural habits, etc.1. Why do females tend to havelighter complexions, on average,than males?2. Malnutrition and continued poverty.3. Why are these examples oneillustration of the 3rd segment ofBiology 1B?I. For further information on the evolution ofhuman skin color see:Jablonski, N.G. and G. Chaplin. 2003. Skindeep. Scientific American


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Berkeley BIOLOGY 1B - Ecology Lecture 1

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