Wildlife disease ecology

Wildlife disease ecology studies how pathogens, hosts, vectors, and environments interact to shape infection and disease in wild populations.

Transmission dynamics: The study of how infections spread and change within populations over time. Connects individual infections to population-level patterns in wild hosts.
One Health: An approach linking human, animal, and environmental health. Wildlife disease is connected to livestock, people, and shared environments.
White-nose syndrome: A fungal disease that has caused extensive mortality in North American hibernating bats. Its spread and severity reveal how host behavior and environmental conditions affect disease.
Emerging infectious disease: An infection whose incidence or geographic range is increasing, or that has newly appeared in a population. Researchers investigate which ecological changes precede new wildlife outbreaks.
Pathogen: A biological agent that causes disease in a host. Pathogens are the infectious agents whose spread the field investigates.
Reservoir of infection: A host population or environment in which a pathogen persists and from which infection reaches other populations. Wild species can maintain pathogens that spill over into domestic animals or people.
Wildlife disease surveillance: Systematic monitoring for pathogens, disease, or mortality in wild animal populations. Surveillance detects outbreaks and tracks changes in pathogen distribution.
Chytridiomycosis: An amphibian disease caused by chytrid fungi, including Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Its global impacts show how pathogens can threaten diverse wildlife populations.
Spillover infection: Transmission of a pathogen from a source population into a different host population. Predicting when wildlife pathogens infect people or livestock remains difficult.
Host–pathogen interaction: The biological relationship between an infectious agent and an organism it infects. Disease outcomes depend on both pathogen traits and host responses.

Linked from 9 pages