Project

Understanding the importance of animal hosts in disease ecology

As an animal ecologist I work in disease ecology. I study the impact of animal hosts species (presence/absence, densities, movements, community composition) on the spatial and temporal patterns in disease outbreaks or pathogen prevalence.

Description

The majority of my research projects has a spatial component, aimed at understanding the variation in infection risk from differences in the distribution and movements of the hosts species. The spatial distribution of animals are under the influence of various factors (e.g., resource availability, disease risk, predation risk) that operate at different spatial and temporal scales. These projects are often carried out on rodents or large mammalian herbivores, although I am also involved in bird and bat projects. For instance, the spatial patterns in avian influenza is highly correlated with the spatial location of flyways of migratory birds, with the presence of large wetlands, and with the community composition of these waterbirds. Hence, in order to understand these spatial patterns it is important to understand the distribution and movements of the carriers of the diseases, the hosts species.

A special research topic is the relationship between species richness and disease risk, as an increasing species richness is sometimes related to decrease or an increase in the probability of disease outbreaks, through a so-called dilution or amplification effects.

Disease ecology is therefore an exciting research field for ecologists that combines species interactions, the impact of human and environmental factors, and spatial analyses. As an animal ecologist I therefore collaborate with, e.g. virologists, entomologists, and veterinary and human health experts in various disease ecological studies.

Publications