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What is disease ecology?

of the behavior and ecology of hosts with the biology of pathogens, as it relates to the impact of diseases on populations. (Sc Online)

gy merges key ideas from ecology, medicine, genetics, immunology and epidemiology. We can study how hosts and pathoge mmunities and even entire ecosystems." (Les Real, Emory University)

gy is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field that necessarily involves the disciplines of microbiology, ecology, genetics, geo ematics and epidemiology to better understand how climate and environment affects the interaction between hosts and patho of Georgia)

field of infectious disease ecology explores the relationships between parasitic, bacterial and viral infectious diseases, their a nd their environment. Common themes of research in the discipline include the factors responsible for the emergence, re-eme iseases within animal and human populations, the factors contributing to their zoonotic or anthroponotic spread, and the imp disturbance on these dynamics." (Justin Remais, University of California Berkeley)

f infectious disease is an important, growing sub-discipline of ecology that combines field studies, epidemiology, molecular a o understand interactions among wildlife hosts, vectors, and pathogens, and to better forecast risk of disease." (Paul Stapp, fr

e underlying principles that influence the spatio-temporal patterns of diseases. Incidence, spatial distribution, and timing of d of populations with each other. Diseases may be environmental (i.e., caused by things like toxins, cancers, environmental sh nfectious (i.e., caused by pathogens). om online notes for Public Health Biology at Johns Hopkins University)

Is disease ecology important? Who funds disease ecology research?

tional Research Council identified "infectious disease and the environment" to be one of four areas of environmental scie g of immediate research investment. According to the NRC, an initiative is needed "to develop a comprehensive ecologica derstanding of infectious and environmental diseases."

is to understand ecological and evolutionary aspects of infectious diseases; develop an understanding of the interactions amo and the environment; and thus make it possible to prevent changes in the infectivity and virulence of organisms that threaten th at the population level. Important research areas include examining the effects of environmental changes as selection age nce and host resistance; exploring the impacts of environmental change on disease etiology, vectors, and toxic organisms; de urveillance and monitoring; and improving theoretical models of host-pathogen ecology."

ges in Environmental Sciences (2001) National Research Council, Committee on Grand Challenges in Environmental Science . ISBN 0309072549

tional Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health initiated a joint program to fund research related to th ase to "support efforts to create a predictive understanding of the ecological and biological mechanisms that govern relations environmental changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases." NSF EID Program - 2005 Press Release - 2006 Press Release - Recent Awards - NSF Special Report

Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis has been funding disease ecology projects since the mid 1990's, noting that "N nucleus for disease ecology research as ecologists, biologists, medical researchers, and social scientists increasingly seek cros o understand the interplay of disease, humans, and their environments." NCEAS Ecology of Infectious Disease Program

A few introductory articles

(2003) Rapid evolutionary dynamics and disease threats to biodiversity. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:589-596 (2006) Seasonality and the dynamics of infectious diseases. Ecology Letters 9:467-484 and S. Altizer (2007) Urbanization and the ecology of wildlife diseases. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22:95-102 (2000) Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife: Threats to biodiversity and human health. Science 287:443-449 D. et al (2006) The role of ecotones in emerging infectious diseases. EcoHealth 3:281-289 al (2004) Ecology drives the worldwide distribution of human diseases. PLoS Biology 2:e141 04) Ecology and evolution of host-pathogen interactions in nature. American Naturalist 164:S1-S5 et al (2006) How parasites affect interactions between competitors and predators. Ecology Letters 9:1253-1271 al (2006) Is a healthy ecosystem one that is rich in parasites? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21:381-385 l (2006) Effects of species diversity on disease risk. Ecology Letters 9:485-498 and L. R. Gerber (2002) Good medicine for conservation biology: the intersection of epidemiology and conservation Conservation Biology 16:593-604 et al (2006) Innate immunity, environmental drivers, and disease ecology of marine and freshwater invertebrates. Ann and Systematics 37:251-288 96) Sustainability and the ecology of infectious disease: diseases and their pathogenic agents must be viewed as import system management strategy. BioScience 46:88-97 d J. Rosenthal (2006) Ecology of infectious disease: forging an alliance. EcoHealth 3:204-208 ) Trophic cascades and disease ecology. EcoHealth 4:121-124

M. and K. Wilson (1998) Wildlife disease ecology: from theory to policy. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 13:476-478 nd D. J. Gubler (2005) Disease ecology and the global emergence of zoonotic pathogens. Environmental Health and Prev e10:263

Disease Ecology in the News

ge and Disease Ecology, Science Daily, August 15, 2007

ology to Predict and Manage Infectious Diseases, Science Daily, May 10, 2005

s Sound a Warning. Yale Medicine, Spring 2006

ation Created in Wildlife Disease Ecology. MSU News Bulletin, October 24, 2002

ed to Invest More in Wildlife Disease Research. ABC Perth, July 13, 2007

gnals Growth of Disease Ecology Field. Emory Report, June 7, 2004

um explores the role of climate and ecology on infectious disease. UGA Press Release, March 29, 2007

urate new lecture series on infectious disease ecology. UGA Press Release, March 21, 2006

clines, Disease Ecology, Biodiversity Are Highlighted at Conference. NSF Press Release, August 8, 2006

Some disease ecology books

sease Ecology: Community Structure and Pathogen Dynamics

by Sharon K. Collinge and Chris Ray, 2006.

rasitism and Ecosystems by Frederic Thomas and Francois Renaud

e Ecology of Wildlife Diseases

by Peter Hudson, Annapaola Rizzoli, Bryan Grenfell, and Hans Heesterbeek, 2002.

nservation Medicine: Ecological Health in Practice arl, 2002.

edited by Alonso Aguirre, Richard Ostfeld, Gary Tabor, Carol Ho

ology of Infectious Diseases in Natural Populations edited by Bryan Grenfell and Andrew Dobson, 1995.

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