Ecological Niche Modeling: An Introduction for Veterinarians and Epidemiologists

Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Luis E Escobar

Abstract

Most infectious diseases in animals are not distributed randomly. Instead, diseases in livestock and wildlife are predictable in terms of the geography, time, and species affected. Ecological niche modeling approaches have been crucial to the advancement of our understanding of diversity and diseases distributions. This contribution is an introductory overview to the field of distributional ecology, with emphasis on its application for spatial epidemiology. A new, revised modeling framework is proposed for more detailed and replicable models that account for both the biology of the disease to be modeled and the uncertainty of the data available. Considering that most disease systems need at least two organisms interacting (i.e., host and pathogen), biotic interactions lie at the core of the pathogen's ecological niche. As a result, neglecting interacting organisms in pathogen dynamics (e.g., maintenance, reproduction, and transmission) may limit efforts to forecast disease distributions in veterinary epidemiology. Although limitations of ecological niche modeling are noted, it is clear that the application and value of ecological niche modeling to epidemiology will increase in the future. Potential research lines include the ex...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 11, 2021·Frontiers in Veterinary Science·Steven N WinterLuis E Escobar

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Software Mentioned

Maxent
KUenm
WorldClim
NicheA
Dismo
Bioclim
ENMeval
Wallace

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