The interaction of the behavior and ecology of hosts
with the biology of pathogens, as it relates to the impact of diseases
on populations. (Sci-Tech
Encyclopedia Online)
"Disease ecology merges key ideas from ecology,
medicine, genetics, immunology and epidemiology. We can study how hosts
and pathogens interact in populations, communities and even entire
ecosystems." (Les Real, Emory University)
"Disease ecology is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field that
necessarily involves the disciplines of microbiology, ecology, genetics,
geography, medicine, mathematics and epidemiology to better understand
how climate and environment affects the interaction between hosts and
pathogens." (Margie Lee, University of Georgia)
"The emerging field of infectious disease ecology
explores the relationships between parasitic, bacterial and viral
infectious diseases, their animal and human hosts, and their
environment. Common themes of research in the discipline include the
factors responsible for the emergence, re-emergence and persistence of
diseases within animal and human populations, the factors contributing
to their zoonotic or anthroponotic spread, and the impact of
environmental disturbance on these dynamics." (Justin
Remais, University of California Berkeley)
"The ecology of infectious disease
is an important, growing sub-discipline of ecology that combines field
studies, epidemiology, molecular approaches, and modeling to understand
interactions among wildlife hosts, vectors, and pathogens, and to better
forecast risk of disease." (Paul
Stapp, from EcoHealth 4:121–124)
The
study of the underlying principles that influence the spatio-temporal
patterns of diseases. Incidence, spatial distribution, and timing
of diseases reflect the interactions of populations with each
other. Diseases may be environmental (i.e., caused by
things like toxins, cancers, environmental shortages such as famine), or
infectious (i.e., caused by pathogens).
(synthesized from online
notes for Public Health Biology at Johns Hopkins University)
Is disease ecology
important? Who funds disease ecology research?
In 2001,
the National Research Council identified "infectious disease and
the environment" to be one of four areas of environmental
science research most deserving of immediate research investment.
According to the NRC, an initiative is needed "to develop a
comprehensive ecological and evolutionary understanding of infectious
and environmental diseases."
"The
challenge is to understand ecological and evolutionary aspects of
infectious diseases; develop an understanding of the interactions
among pathogens, hosts/receptors, and the environment; and thus make
it possible to prevent changes in the infectivity and virulence of
organisms that threaten plant, animal, and human health at the
population level. Important research areas include examining the
effects of environmental changes as selection agents on pathogen
virulence and host resistance; exploring the impacts of environmental
change on disease etiology, vectors, and toxic organisms; developing
new approaches to surveillance and monitoring; and improving
theoretical models of host-pathogen ecology."
Grand
Challenges in Environmental Sciences (2001) National Research
Council, Committee on Grand Challenges in Environmental Science.
National Academy Press. ISBN 0309072549
In 1999,
the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes
of Health initiated a joint program to fund research related to
the Ecology of Infectious Disease to "support efforts to
create a predictive understanding of the ecological and biological
mechanisms that govern relationships among human-induced environmental
changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious
diseases."
The National
Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis has been funding
disease ecology projects since the mid 1990's, noting that "NCEAS
has been a natural nucleus for disease ecology research as ecologists,
biologists, medical researchers, and social scientists increasingly
seek crossdisciplinary collaboration to understand the
interplay of disease, humans, and their
environments."
Altizer,
S. et al (2003) Rapid evolutionary dynamics and disease threats to
biodiversity. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:589-596
Altizer,
S. et al (2006) Seasonality and the dynamics of infectious diseases.
Ecology Letters 9:467-484
Bradley,
C. A. and S. Altizer (2007) Urbanization and the ecology of wildlife
diseases. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22:95-102
Daszak,
P. et al (2000) Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife: Threats to
biodiversity and human health. Science 287:443-449
Despommier,
D. et al (2006) The role of ecotones in emerging infectious diseases.
EcoHealth 3:281-289
Guernier,
V. et al (2004)
Ecology drives the worldwide distribution of human diseases. PLoS
Biology 2:e141
Harvell,
D. (2004) Ecology and evolution of host-pathogen interactions in
nature. American Naturalist 164:S1-S5
Hatcher,
M. J. et al (2006) How parasites affect interactions between
competitors and predators. Ecology Letters 9:1253-1271
Hudson,
P. J. et al (2006) Is a healthy ecosystem one that is rich in
parasites?Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21:381-385
Keesing,
F. et al (2006) Effects of species diversity on disease risk. Ecology
Letters 9:485-498
Lafferty,
K. D. and L. R. Gerber (2002) Good medicine for conservation biology:
the intersection of epidemiology and conservation theory. Conservation
Biology 16:593-604
Mydlarz,
L. D. et al (2006) Innate immunity, environmental drivers, and
disease ecology of marine and freshwater invertebrates. Annual
Review of Ecology and Systematics 37:251-288
Real,
L. A. (1996) Sustainability and the ecology of infectious disease:
diseases and their pathogenic agents must be viewed as important parts
of any ecosystem management strategy. BioScience 46:88-97
Scheiner,
S. and J. Rosenthal (2006) Ecology of infectious disease: forging an
alliance. EcoHealth 3:204-208
Stapp,
P. (2007) Trophic cascades and disease ecology. EcoHealth
4:121-124
Tompkins,
D. M. and K. Wilson (1998) Wildlife disease ecology: from theory to
policy. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 13:476-478
Wilcox,
B. A. and D. J. Gubler (2005) Disease ecology and the global
emergence of zoonotic pathogens. Environmental Health and
Preventative Medicine 10:263
by Sharon K. Collinge and Chris Ray, 2006.
