Cary Conference XI: Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Disease on Ecosystems and of Ecosystems on Disease

传染病对全世界的人类、野生动物、家畜以及栽培和本土植物造成巨大损失。疫情爆发后往往是控制不力的传播，造成毁灭性后果。 有些人认为，在某些人类、动物和植物疾病的情况下，纠正措施的不良记录源于这些病原体在自然界中的进化、传播和维持所涉及的生态复杂性。 这笔赠款将有助于支持一个密集的为期3天的卡里会议，致力于概念上统一和扩大对传染病生态学的理解。由于社区和生态系统生态学包含传染病的关键要素，因此会议应促进在预测和管理人类、动物和植物的复杂疾病方面取得快速进展。 这次会议将在三个主要方面是独一无二的。首先，它将侧重于疾病与多物种群落和生态系统之间的相互作用。其次，它将探讨疾病对生态系统的影响，生态系统对疾病的影响，以及反馈的潜力。第三，它将利用生态学提供专业之间的翻译语言。 预计控制和预防人类疾病的专家可以从从事控制动物和植物疾病的专家所采用的概念和技术中受益匪浅，反之亦然。会议的一个更广泛的影响是更积极地确定生态学及其从业者在保护人类，其他动物和植物资源（包括作物和森林）健康方面的作用。会议的第二个预期影响是为培训对传染病感兴趣的新一代生态学家提供资源。

Infectious diseases take an enormous toll on humans, wildlife, domestic animals, and both cultivated and native plants worldwide. Often outbreaks are followed by poorly contained spread with devastating consequences. Some have argued that the poor record of corrective actions in the case of some human, animal, and plant diseases arises from the ecological complexity involved in the evolution, transmission, and maintenance of these pathogens in nature. This grant will help support an intensive 3-day Cary Conference devoted to conceptually unifying and expanding an understanding of the ecology of infectious disease. Because community and ecosystem ecology embrace key elements of infectious disease, the conference should facilitate rapid progress in anticipating and managing the complex diseases of humans, animals, and plants. The conference will be unique in three major ways. First, it will focus on the interactions between disease and both multi-species communities and ecosystems. Second, it will explore the effects of disease on ecosystems, the effects of ecosystems on disease, and the potential for feedbacks. Third, it will use ecology to provide a language of translation among specialties. It is anticipated that specialists in controlling and preventing human diseases can benefit enormously from the concepts and techniques employed by specialists engaged in controlling animal and plant diseases, and vice versa. One Broader Impact from the conference is a more aggressive track toward defining the role of ecology and its practitioners in protecting health of humans, other animals, and phyto-resources including crops and forests. A second anticipated impact of the conference is in providing resources for the training of a new generation of ecologists interested in infectious disease.