Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious animal disease caused by an RNA virus subdivided into seven serotypes that are unevenly distributed in Asia, Africa and South America. Despite the challenges of controlling FMD, since 1996 there have been only two outbreaks attributed to serotype C, in Brazil and in Kenya, in 2004. This review describes the historical distribution and origins of serotype C and its disappearance. The serotype was first described in Europe in...

Aim: The abundance-frequency relationship (AFR) is among the most-investigated pattern in biogeography, yet the relative contributions of niche-based processes related to ecological strategies, and of neutral processes related to spatial colonization-extinction dynamics, remains uncertain. Here, we tested the influences of ecological specialization and functional traits on local abundance and regional frequency, to determine the contribution of niche-based processes. Location: France and the UK. Taxon: Vascular plants. Methods: We used two arable weed surveys covering 1544...