You’re absolutely right, Zika is another important arbovirus in this context. Very broadly speaking: Flaviviridae and Togaviridae (mostly of the Alphavirus genus) are frequently reported viruses from Ae. aegypti while e.g. Bunyaviridae are rarely mentioned in connection with them. For Plasmodium species (= Malaria pathogens, single celled-parasites): they do transmit some other forms like avian Malaria, just not those species pathogenic to humans. Also Filaroidea (=little Worms) don’t seem to be transmitted either.
Yeah. I hate to be that guy but since this is sort of related to my job and this is a science community: this is an Aedes Species. Scutal markings are not fully visible but I’d go with Aedes aegypti. They don’t transmit Malaria. They’d be your Yellow Fever, Dengue or Chikungunya Bros, though. Malaria, at least those variants that are pathogenic to humans are almost exclusively transmitted by species from the genus Anopheles.
True because cities have parks, roads, rivers, business, industrial or municipal areas that can’t or shouldn’t be used for housing. But there are neighborhoods almost as dense. Yorkville in NYC has more than 60.000 inhabitants per square kilometer. 160 acres is about 0.65 square kilometers.
Because there’s a whole range of processes involved in whether or not a pathogen can infect an organism (mode of transmission, various barriers including immune response, etc.) and a whole different range that determines whether or not an infected organism can spread a pathogen (mode of transmission again, viral load, vector capacity and competence, etc). For instance: assume the pathogen can infect an organism but can’t replicate often enough to reach the required viral load in the host to spread further via it’s usual mode of transmission. We’d end up with a dead end host instead of a pathogen reservoir/vector and the chain of infection would stop right there. That can be seen in the West Nile Virus for example when it infects humans or horses instead of it’s normal host: birds. I don’t know enough about influenza to tell whether that’s a thing here or not but I hope it clarifies why infections are often not that straight forward especially if they involve zoonotic events.
Wild garlic (Allium ursinum, German: Bärlauch) is a native plant and not invasive in Germany. It’s not like it’s everywhere as it usually needs alluvial, deciduous forests but common enough that most locals usually know a spot or two. It may look like lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis, German: Maiglöckchen) or autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale, German: Herbstzeitlose) which are both poisonous but that’s not the reason why you’re not allowed to pick large amounts. The Federal Nature Protection Law (Bundesnaturschutzgesetz, see paragraph 39 for details) forbids the collection of any wild plants or animals, independent of their protection status to disturb natural processes as little as possible. However certain exemptions are possible, think hunting, fishing, or the collection of wild herbs for example. While the former two require a license and are restricted to certain area or seasons, the latter is limited by the amount you may take. It explicitly states to only take amounts that are for personal use and that commercial collection is prohibited. It’s obviously to prevent overexploitation. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon that naturally occurring stocks of wild herbs, mushrooms or berries are used up and destroyed by illegal and unsustainable usage. Also, yes wild herbs are commercially grown on farms but as you can imagine, they don’t come cheap at all.
I’ve just payed 12,80€ for all of Kingdom Come: Deliverance AND Mass Effect Legendary Edition.
Did you know that mozzie males find their mate via the wing beat frequency? Yes, the annoying zzzzzzzz that keeps you up at night is like a love song to the males and once they are close enough to their desired mozzie lady, they imitate the frequency. If they hit “the right tune” they may approach. Otherwise, the females kick them with their hind legs… looks cute as hell in my opinion.