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Environmental governance is more effective when the scales of ecological processes are well matched with the human institutions charged with managing human-environment interactions. The social-ecological systems (SESs) framework provides guidance on how to assess the social and ecological dimensions that contribute to sustainable resource use and management, but rarely if ever has been operationalized for multiple localities in a spatially explicit, quantitative manner. Here, we use the case of small-scale fisheries in Baja California Sur, Mexico, to identify distinct SES regions and test key aspects of coupled SESs theory. Regions that exhibit greater potential for social-ecological sustainability in one dimension do not necessarily exhibit it in others, highlighting the importance of integrative, coupled system analyses when implementing spatial planning and other ecosystem-based strategies.

The first description of avian influenza (AI) dates back to 1878 in northern Italy, when Perroncito [Perroncito E. Epizoozia tifoide nei gallinacei. Annali Accad Agri Torino 1878;21:87-126] described a contagious disease of poultry associated with high mortality. The disease, termed "fowl plague", was initially confused with the acute septicemic form of fowl cholera. However, in 1880, soon after its first description, Rivolta and Delprato [as reported by Stubs EL. Fowl pest, In: Biester HE, Devries L, editors. Diseases of poultry. 1st ed. Ames, IO: Iowa State College Press; 1943. p. 493-502] showed it to be different from fowl cholera, based on clinical and pathological properties, and called it Typhus exudatious gallinarum. In 1901, Centanni and Savunzzi [Centanni E, Savonuzzi E, La peste aviaria I & II, Communicazione fatta all'accademia delle scienze mediche e naturali de Ferrara, 1901] determined that fowl plague was caused by a filterable virus; however, it was not until 1955 that the classical fowl plague virus was shown to be a type A influenza virus based on the presence of type A influenza virus type-specific ribonucleoprotein [Schäfer W. Vergleichender sero-immunologische Untersuchungen über die Viren der Influenza und klassischen Geflügelpest. Z Naturf 1955;10b:81-91]. The term fowl plague was substituted by the more appropriate term highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) at the First International Symposium on Avian Influenza [Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Avian Influenza. Beltsville, MD. 1981, Avian Dis 47 (Special Issue) 2003.] and will be used throughout this review when referring to any previously described fowl plague virus.