scholarly journals Title: The use and underuse of model systems in infectious disease ecology & evolutionary biology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Wale ◽  
Meghan A Duffy
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Ecology ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Model Systems

scholarly journals The use and underuse of model systems in infectious disease ecology & evolution.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Wale ◽  
Meghan A Duffy
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Disease Ecology ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Disease Dynamics ◽  
Biological Organization ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Testing Theory ◽  
Definition Of

Ever since biologists began studying the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases (EEID), laboratory-based ‘model systems’ have been important for developing and testing theory. Yet what EEID researchers mean by ‘model systems’ and what they want from them remains to be clearly delineated. This uncertainty holds back our ability to maximally exploit these systems, identify knowledge gaps, and establish effective new model systems. Here, we borrow a definition of model systems from the biomolecular sciences to assess how EEID researchers are (and are not) using ten key model systems. According to this definition, model systems in EEID are not being used to their fullest and, in fact, cannot even be considered to be model systems. Research using these systems consistently addresses only two of the three fundamental processes that underlie disease dynamics-transmission and disease, but not recovery. Further, studies tend to focus on only a few of the scales of biological organization that matter for disease ecology and evolution. Moreover, the field lacks an infrastructure to perform comparative analyses. We aim to begin a discussion of what we want from model systems, which would further progress toward a thorough, holistic understanding of EEID.

scholarly journals Multi-Scale Drivers of Immunological Variation and Consequences for Infectious Disease Dynamics

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 1129-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J Becker ◽  
Cynthia J Downs ◽  
Lynn B Martin
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Host Defense ◽  
Disease Ecology ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Immune Defense ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Disease Dynamics ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Infectious Disease Dynamics

Abstract The immune system is the primary barrier to parasite infection, replication, and transmission following exposure, and variation in immunity can accordingly manifest in heterogeneity in traits that govern population-level infectious disease dynamics. While much work in ecoimmunology has focused on individual-level determinants of host immune defense (e.g., reproductive status and body condition), an ongoing challenge remains to understand the broader evolutionary and ecological contexts of this variation (e.g., phylogenetic relatedness and landscape heterogeneity) and to connect these differences into epidemiological frameworks. Ultimately, such efforts could illuminate general principles about the drivers of host defense and improve predictions and control of infectious disease. Here, we highlight recent work that synthesizes the complex drivers of immunological variation across biological scales of organization and scales these within-host differences to population-level infection outcomes. Such studies note the limitations involved in making species-level comparisons of immune phenotypes, stress the importance of spatial scale for immunology research, showcase several statistical tools for translating within-host data into epidemiological parameters, and provide theoretical frameworks for linking within- and between-host scales of infection processes. Building from these studies, we highlight several promising avenues for continued work, including the application of machine learning tools and phylogenetically controlled meta-analyses to immunology data and quantifying the joint spatial and temporal dependencies in immune defense using range expansions as model systems. We also emphasize the use of organismal traits (e.g., host tolerance, competence, and resistance) as a way to interlink various scales of analysis. Such continued collaboration and disciplinary cross-talk among ecoimmunology, disease ecology, and mathematical modeling will facilitate an improved understanding of the multi-scale drivers and consequences of variation in host defense.

scholarly journals Impact of Globalization and Animal Trade on Infectious Disease Ecology

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 1807-1809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Marano ◽  
Paul M. Arguin ◽  
Marguerite Pappaioanou
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Ecology ◽  
Animal Trade

scholarly journals Testing Host-Plant Driven Speciation in Phytophagous Insects: A Phylogenetic Perspective

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuelle Jousselin ◽  
Marianne Elias
Keyword(s):  
Host Plant ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Ecological Speciation ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Phytophagous Insects ◽  
Ecological Specialization ◽  
Recent Developments

During the last two decades, ecological speciation has been a major research theme in evolutionary biology. Ecological speciation occurs when reproductive isolation between populations evolves as a result of niche differentiation. Phytophagous insects represent model systems for the study of this evolutionary process. The host-plants on which these insects feed and often spend parts of their life cycle constitute ideal agents of divergent selection for these organisms. Adaptation to feeding on different host-plant species can potentially lead to ecological specialization of populations and subsequent speciation. This process is thought to have given birth to the astonishing diversity of phytophagous insects and is often put forward in macroevolutionary scenarios of insect diversification. Consequently, numerous phylogenetic studies on phytophagous insects have aimed at testing whether speciation driven by host-plant adaptation is the main pathway for the diversification of the groups under investigation. The increasing availability of comprehensive and well-resolved phylogenies and the recent developments in phylogenetic comparative methods are offering an unprecedented opportunity to test hypotheses on insect diversification at a macroevolutionary scale, in a robust phylogenetic framework. Our purpose here is to review the contribution of phylogenetic analyses to investigate the importance of plant-mediated speciation in the diversification of phytophagous insects and to present suggestions for future developments in this field.

8. Looking ahead

2015 ◽  
pp. 97-106
Author(s):  
Marta L. Wayne ◽  
Benjamin M. Bolker
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Management ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Disease Ecology ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Zoonotic Diseases ◽  
Transmission Control ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
The Impact

‘Looking ahead’ shows how our understanding of disease ecology and evolution has revolutionized disease management. By developing transmission control strategies to close the encounter filter and vaccines and treatments to close the compatibility filter, we have reduced the misery caused by infectious disease. But what is the outlook for the future control of infectious diseases? We cannot eradicate infectious disease. Living things have parasitized one another since the beginning of life itself. New zoonotic diseases will continue to emerge, and existing diseases will continually evolve to escape our methods of control. Despite this stark reality, we can minimize the impact of disease even if we can never fully conquer it.

scholarly journals Incorporating genomic methods into contact networks to reveal new insights into animal behaviour and infectious disease dynamics

Behaviour ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 155 (7-9) ◽  
pp. 759-791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie L.J. Gilbertson ◽  
Nicholas M. Fountain-Jones ◽  
Meggan E. Craft
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Ecology ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Contact Network ◽  
Contact Networks ◽  
Host Behaviour ◽  
Infectious Disease Dynamics ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Dynamic Interplay ◽  
Broad Overview

Abstract Utilization of contact networks has provided opportunities for assessing the dynamic interplay between pathogen transmission and host behaviour. Genomic techniques have, in their own right, provided new insight into complex questions in disease ecology, and the increasing accessibility of genomic approaches means more researchers may seek out these tools. The integration of network and genomic approaches provides opportunities to examine the interaction between behaviour and pathogen transmission in new ways and with greater resolution. While a number of studies have begun to incorporate both contact network and genomic approaches, a great deal of work has yet to be done to better integrate these techniques. In this review, we give a broad overview of how network and genomic approaches have each been used to address questions regarding the interaction of social behaviour and infectious disease, and then discuss current work and future horizons for the merging of these techniques.

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