Why apply ecological laws to epidemiology?

Serge Morand (1, 2) , Boris R. Krasnov (3)

1 UMR ISEM - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier
2 UPR AGIRs - Animal et gestion intégrée des risques
3 Ramon Science Center and Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology

Using ecological laws, or rules, is a useful strategy for epidemiological observations. The application of Taylor's power law to epidemiology and evolutionary ecology of parasites is exemplified here. Taylor's power law takes the form of s(2) = am(b), where s(2) is the variance in population abundance, m is the mean abundance of the population, a represents a constant parameter and b represents an index of spatial heterogeneity. Although Taylor's power law reflects the aggregation of parasite (or pathogen) individuals among host population, the values of b could reflect regulation processes in host-parasite systems. Illustrations are given showing how b value is linked to various epidemiological situations: pathogen emergence, the impact of vaccination or the level of host immune defence.

Mots clés: PARASITE POPULATION INTERACTIONS; POWER-LAW; ABUNDANCE; HOST; AGGREGATION; STABILITY; VARIANCE; MODELS; VARIABILITY; PREVALENCE

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie

Serge Morand, Boris R. Krasnov. Why apply ecological laws to epidemiology?. Trends in Parasitology, 2008, 24 (7), pp.304-309. ⟨10.1016/j.pt.2008.04.003⟩. ⟨halsde-00528621⟩