May 25, 2022

4:00pm 158 HH and Zoom

Maria Diuk-Wasser
Columbia University

" Tick-borne Disease Emergence: a Coupled Natural-Human System "

Maria Diuk-Wasser

Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology

Columbia University

 

“Tick-Borne Disease Emergence: a Coupled Natural-Human System”

The nature of the linkage between biodiversity and infectious disease risk has been frequently debated. Discussions have centered on the shape, directionality, generality and scale of this association. Tick-borne diseases continue to emerge as a public health threat and have been used as a model system to study the biodiversity-disease relationship. Framing tick-borne diseases as a coupled natural-human system, I will discuss the differential the roles of habitat fragmentation, host community assembly, human exposure and protective behaviors in mediating the biodiversity-disease relationship. Disentangling these multiple determinants can help guide policy decisions for biodiversity conservation and public health.

Hershey Hall, Room 158 

Host: Peter Nonacs

Host: Peter Nonacs