Evaluation of drought and drought impacts through interdisciplinary methods

0448337 - ÚVGZ 2016 RIV CZ eng M - Část monografie knihy
Büntgen, Ulf
Frontiers in Tree–ring Research with a Special Emphasis on the Black Death.
Evaluation of drought and drought impacts through interdisciplinary methods. Brno: Global change research centre, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v. v. i, 2015 - (Trnka, M.; Hayes, M.), s. 11-20. ISBN 978-80-87902-12-7
Grant CEP: GA MŠMT(CZ) EE2.3.20.0248
Institucionální podpora: RVO:67179843
Klíčová slova: black death * tree-ring * Central Europe
Kód oboru RIV: DG - Vědy o atmosféře, meteorologie

This paper covers six partly overlapping subjects entitled: 1) replication matters, 2) toward history, 3) past crossdating, 4) inside wood, 5) beyond forests, and 6) below surface. All of them can be further subdivided into several topics at the interface of archaeology, climatology and ecology, with tree rings always being either the main archive or tool. Among other biases, all examples herein provided are highly selective and partly explorative. Special emphasis is placed on the Black Death, a zoonotic infectious disease that entered human populations across Europe in the 14th century. Outbreaks of bubonic plague initiated by the flea–borne bacterium Yersinia pestis have repeatedly afflicted the Old World, at least since the onset of the ‘Justinian Plague’ in 541 AD. The second and much better documented pandemic, the Black Death, rapidly killed around half of the European population after 1347 AD, and recurrent local outbreaks persisted at least until the early 18th century. The origin of the catastrophic Black Death pandemic has been traced back to Caffa in 1346 AD, and even further to the Kyrgyzian ‘pestilence’ in Issyk Kul, 1338–1339 AD. Reasons for the eventual cessation of plague in Europe, however, remain mysterious, particularly in light of a continued activity in Asia, where the infection is enzootic in its natural rodent hosts. Recent efforts have proved the climatic importance on plague abundance in its major host species, the great gerbil (Rhombomys opimus) during the 20th century, which ultimately triggered the risk for human epidemics in Kazakhstan, for instance. Understanding plague ecology, epidemiology and pathophysiology and its climate–dependency is, however, almost exclusively limited to areas where Yersinia pestis currently persists in endemic rodent populations. The epidemiological dynamics of the wildlife reservoir determine the profusion,distribution and evolution of the pathogen,distribution and virulence of human cases.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0250123