|
OOS-20:
Disease in ecosystems: Reciprocal interactions between pathogens and
ecosystems
Tuesday,
August 9, 1:30 PM - 5 PM, Meeting Rooms 510b and 510d, Level 5, Palais
des congrès de Montréal
Organizers:
Felicia
Keesing (keesing@bard.edu), Richard Ostfeld,
Valerie Eviner
Description:
Disease
is now being recognized as a potent force affecting interactions both among
species and between species and their abiotic environments. For example,
pathogens and parasites can influence individual behavior and population
dynamics, and consequently can alter interspecific interactions such as
competition, predation, and mutualism. Diseases also can contribute to the
demise of rare and endangered species or, when they attack dominant or keystone
species, can influence community composition and ecosystem processes such as
productivity, nutrient cycling rates, and disturbance regimes. The maintenance
and transmission of pathogens in natural systems is strongly influenced by
ecological factors such as host population density, species diversity, landscape
heterogeneity, and abiotic conditions, including those under anthropogenic
influence. Only recently have impacts of community and ecosystem processes on
pathogen-host interactions been studied. Speakers in this session will present
conceptual frameworks of the effects of disease on ecosystems, and of ecosystems
on disease. These conceptual frameworks, illustrated with case studies, are
intended to provide cohesion and motivation for future studies in this dynamic
research frontier.
|
