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Global warming is changing the dynamics of Arctic host-parasite systems.

Kutz SJ, Hoberg EP, Polley L, Jenkins EJ

University of Saskatchewan Department of Veterinary Microbiology 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5B4.

Global climate change is altering the ecology of infectious agents and driving the emergence of disease in people, domestic animals, and wildlife. We present a novel, empirically based, predictive model for the impact of climate warming on development rates and availability of an important parasitic nematode of muskoxen in the Canadian Arctic, a region that is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Using this model, we show that warming in the Arctic may have already radically altered the transmission dynamics of this parasite, escalating infection pressure for muskoxen, and that this trend is expected to continue. This work establishes a foundation for understanding responses to climate change of other host-parasite systems, in the Arctic and globally.

Published 2 December 2005 in Proc Biol Sci, 272(1581): 2571-6.
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