The macroecology of infectious diseases: a new perspective on global-scale drivers of pathogen distributions and impacts

Identifying drivers of infectious disease patterns and impacts at the broadest scales of organisation is one of the most crucial challenges for modern science, yet answers to many fundamental questions remain elusive. These include what factors commonly facilitate transmission of pathogens to novel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters Vol. 19; no. 9; pp. 1159 - 1171
Main Authors: Stephens, Patrick R., Altizer, Sonia, Smith, Katherine F., Alonso Aguirre, A., Brown, James H., Budischak, Sarah A., Byers, James E., Dallas, Tad A., Jonathan Davies, T., Drake, John M., Ezenwa, Vanessa O., Farrell, Maxwell J., Gittleman, John L., Han, Barbara A., Huang, Shan, Hutchinson, Rebecca A., Johnson, Pieter, Nunn, Charles L., Onstad, David, Park, Andrew, Vazquez-Prokopec, Gonzalo M., Schmidt, John P., Poulin, Robert
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2016
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Communicable Diseases - epidemiology
Communicable Diseases - etiology
Communicable Diseases - transmission
Communicable Diseases - veterinary
conservation
disease ecology
Ecology - methods
Health risks
Host-Pathogen Interactions
hosts
Infectious diseases
Macroecology
Parasites
Pathogens
risk
conservation
macroecology
pathogens
Biodiversity
disease ecology
infectious diseases
ISSN:1461-023X, 1461-0248
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Identifying drivers of infectious disease patterns and impacts at the broadest scales of organisation is one of the most crucial challenges for modern science, yet answers to many fundamental questions remain elusive. These include what factors commonly facilitate transmission of pathogens to novel host species, what drives variation in immune investment among host species, and more generally what drives global patterns of parasite diversity and distribution? Here we consider how the perspectives and tools of macroecology, a field that investigates patterns and processes at broad spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales, are expanding scientific understanding of global infectious disease ecology. In particular, emerging approaches are providing new insights about scaling properties across all living taxa, and new strategies for mapping pathogen biodiversity and infection risk. Ultimately, macroecology is establishing a framework to more accurately predict global patterns of infectious disease distribution and emergence.
Bibliography:istex:B4D0042A2A5C048E0F3DCD734DB56E65C3EA05D2
NSF/NIH/USDA - No. DEB 1316223
ark:/67375/WNG-H0KRP1BF-Z
ArticleID:ELE12644
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/ele.12644