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Therefore, it is recommended that the policymakers in B&RI countries should integrate the economic impacts of natural disasters in long-term economic planning. This would help the policymakers for better fiscal decisions, attracting FDI inflows and preparedness aftermath of natural disasters.Mercury concentrations in freshwater food webs are governed by complex biogeochemical and ecological interactions that spatially vary and are often mediated by climate. The Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska (ACP) is a heterogeneous, lake-rich landscape where variability in mercury accumulation is poorly understood. Earlier research indicated that the level of catchment influence on lakes varied spatially on the ACP, and affected mercury accumulation in lake sediments. This work sought to determine drivers of spatial variation in mercury accumulation in lake food webs on the ACP. Three lakes that were a priori identified as "high catchment influence" (Reindeer Camp region) and three lakes that were a priori identified as "low catchment influence" (Atqasuk region) were sampled, and variability in water chemistry, food web ecology, and mercury accumulation was investigated. Among-lake differences in ninespine stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) length-adjusted methylmercury concentrations were significantly explainedations for predicting future mercury concentrations in fish in lakes where fish growth rates and catchment inputs may change in response to a changing climate.Stochastic (e.g., via species dispersal and ecological drift) and deterministic (e.g., via environmental and biotic filtering) processes can produce diversity patterns related to changes in elevation. However, existing studies have not generally examined these processes within a compressive framework. Stream macroinvertebrates are an important and diverse component of freshwater environments in high-mountain systems. By considering metacommunity-structuring processes using Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC), we investigated changes in taxon richness of stream macroinvertebrates along elevational gradients in streams of the Cangshan mountain range in Southwest China. We found that increasing taxon richness along the elevation gradient until the optimum was reached could be modeled using the integrated actions of full structuring processes within the metacommunity modeling. Consistent increases in taxon-richness along the elevation gradient were able to be modeled considering environmental filtering alone. In addition, the importance of structuring processes on shaping communities decreased along spatial hierarchical-scales (from local habitat to mountain-aspect levels). These results suggest that stochastic and biotic-filtering processes can confound environmental filtering in shaping macroinvertebrate communities in high-mountain streams. A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms underlying elevational biodiversity patterns of riverine communities can be improved through quantitative frameworks (e.g., HMSC) linking metacommunity theory to the real-world systems.The performance of eight microbial source tracking (MST) markers was evaluated in a low-resource, tropical community located in Iquitos, Peru. Fecal samples from humans, dogs, cats, rats, goats, buffalos, guinea-pigs, chickens, ducks, pigeons, and parrots were collected (n = 117). All samples were tested with human (BacHum, HF183-Taqman), dog (BactCan), pig (Pig-2-Bac), and avian (LA35, Av4143, ND5, cytB) markers using quantitative PCR (qPCR). Internal validity metrics were calculated using all animal fecal samples, as well as animal fecal samples contextually relevant for the Peruvian Amazon. Overall, Pig-2-Bac performed best, with 100% sensitivity and 88.5% specificity to detect the correct fecal source. buy PLX5622 Human-associated markers showed a sensitivity of 80.0% and 76.7%, and specificity of 66.2% and 67.6%. When limiting the analysis to contextually relevant animal fecal samples for the Peruvian Amazon, Av143 surpassed cytB with 95.7% sensitivity and 81.8% specificity. BactCan demonstrated 100% sensitivity and 47.4% specificity. The gene copy number detected by BacHum and HF183-Taqman were positively correlated (Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.785), as well as avian markers cytB with Av4143 (Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.508) and nd5 (Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.949). These findings suggest that markers such as Av4143, Pig2Bac, cytb and BacHum have acceptable performance to be impactful in source attribution studies for zoonotic enteric disease transmission in this and similar low-resource communities.The Inuit of Nunavik (Northern Quebec, Canada) are exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury (Hg) through their consumption of marine country foods. A temporal trend study was initiated in 1992 to monitor circulating levels of PCBs and Hg in pregnant Inuit women, since the fetus is most at risk of adverse health effects. We set out (1) to describe temporal trends of PCBs and Hg levels in pregnant Nunavik women between 1992 and 2017; (2) to determine the prevalence of participants exceeding the guidance values in 2017; (3) to investigate relations between marine country food intake and contaminant levels over the study period. A total of 559 pregnant women provided a blood sample for contaminant analysis from 1992 to 2017. PCB congeners were quantified in plasma (serum) by gas chromatography (GC) coupled to electron capture detection or mass spectrometry (MS). We determined whole blood mercury concentration by cold vapor atomic absorption or inductively-coupled plasma MS. We performed multilevel modeling to assess temporal trends in contaminant levels and relations with marine country food consumption. Concentrations of total PCBs and Hg decreased by 84% and 65% between 1992 and 2017, respectively. Nevertheless, 10% and 22% of women in 2017 exceeded guidance values for PCBs and Hg, respectively. While the decline in marine country food intake is the only factor associated with decreasing Hg levels, other factors may explain the decline in PCB levels. Despite the significant decline in PCBs and Hg levels from 1992 to 2017, exposure to these contaminants is still quite prevalent among pregnant Nunavik women. Most of the decline in Hg exposure is likely due to a shift away from marine country foods to store-bought foods, which is a concern given the cultural and nutritional importance of country foods and the high food insecurity that prevails in Nunavik.