Understanding the Geography of Infectious Diseases Using Biodiversity Data and Informatics Tools
A. Townsend Peterson
Many human diseases constitute interacting systems of vector species, reservoir species, and disease organisms. As such, given that biological species generally have direct ties to their surrounding environments, it is possible to reconstruct the ecological and geographic dynamics of disease systems as the sum of their parts -- the ecological requirements of the component species. Using biodiversity data and tools from the emerging field of biodiversity informatics, a series of examples of new insights into the geography and ecology of infectious diseases has been possible -- I present examples from Chagas disease, malaria, dengue, and leishmaniasis. This body of work emphasizes the key economic and public
health role played by -- perhaps surprisingly -- biodiversity informatics.
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