An Ecological Framework for Modeling the Geography of Disease Transmission.

Ecological niche modeling (ENM) is widely employed in ecology to predict species' potential geographic distributions in relation to their environmental constraints and is rapidly becoming the gold-standard method for disease risk mapping. However, given the biological complexity of disease systems, the traditional ENM framework requires reevaluation. We provide an overview of the application of ENM to disease systems and propose a theoretical framework based on the biological properties of both hosts and parasites to produce reliable outputs resembling disease system distributions.

Awn length variation and its effect on dispersal unit burial of Trachypogon spicatus (Poaceae).

Trachypogon spicatus, formerly known as Trachypogon plumosus, is a dominant grass in some savannas of Northern South America. Its dispersal unit, like many other species of the Andropogoneae tribe, bears a hygroscopic awn which facilitates its establishment in favorable microsites. Some authors have previously proposed that there is a positive correlation between awn length and dispersal unit burial, and that this relationship increases the probability of seed survival in the event of a fire, since soil acts as insulator.