Complex disease problems across scales: perspectives on advancing disease ecology with trans-disciplinary research

Authors: Savoy, Heather; Peters, Debra; YOUNG, KATHERINE - New Mexico State University

Submitted to: Ecological Society of America Bulletin
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/11/2019
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Solving complex disease problems requires transdisciplinary research across scales to effectively integrate diverse data and expertise. In light of the meeting theme of Bridging Communities and Ecosystems: Inclusion as an Ecological Imperative, we assembled a symposium bringing together virologists, entomologists, ecologists, geographers, and modelers to discuss vector-borne disease ecology from multiple scales. A myriad of interactions among the virus, vector(s), host(s), and environment make up a complex disease system, and the symposium speakers provided perspectives on how their scales and interactions of interest fit into that system as well as where they see potential for trans-disciplinary collaborations. The speakers were from a variety of subdisciplines and scales of interest (from virology on the micro scale to geography on the continental scale) and stages in career (from doctoral candidate to professor). The goal of the symposium was to bridge and augment the different subdisciplines along the virology-ecology spectrum by highlighting how collaborative teams can work (or have worked) together, how novel computational methods can be utilized, and how decision-making can be integrated with models.