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etĀ al. 2012). This tick species has established populations in southern and eastern
Europe but may extend its distribution to some areas of Italy, the Balkans and south-
ern Russia when climatic conditions are improved, especially in autumn (Estrada-
Pena etĀ al. 2012).
4.3 Biodiversity andĀ VBDs: TheĀ Large Unknowns
4.3.1 Pathogen Diversity
The diversity of potential human pathogens, the species diversity and phenotypic
plasticity of vectors and the biodiversity of their reservoir hosts is largely unex-
plored. On our planet, an immense but largely unknown diversity of viral species is
hosted by mammals and birds (estimate over 1.3Ā million, http://www.globalvi-
romeproject.org/overview/). Approximately 38% of these viral species could result
in VBDs in humans. The Global Virome Project will explore this biodiversity of
viruses over the next 10Ā years, which may result in many surprises for the VBD
research community.
4.3.2 Vector Diversity
The understanding of spatio-temporal phenotypic diversity and genetic architec-
tures of vector populations under current and climate change conditions is crucial
for vector control management. Local knowledge on phenotypic diversity to insec-
ticide resistance can foster success in chemical vector control. The worldwide
insecticide resistance network WIN is currently tracking insecticide resistance in
mosquito disease vectors on a global scale and consults with the WHO and member
states on how to improve insecticide resistance surveillance and implement alterna-
tive vector control tools (https://win-network.ird.fr/). Likewise, the understanding
of vector ecology and in particular the understanding of age-structure of field popu-
lations, the adaptive behaviour of vectors, and context-dependence of vector capaci-
ties fundamentally affect the success rate of biotechnological interventions. The
efficiency of biological and genetic vector control is in some cases defined by the
available number of targeted life stages. In others, the ratio of released Wolbachia
contaminated insects and genetically modified or radiation-sterilised males and the
virgin wildtype counterparts in a field population determines the suppression rate of
vector populations and hence the degree of disease controlĀ (Iturbe-Ormaetxe etĀ al.
2011; Ross etĀ
al. 2017). Our lack of basic ecological knowledge even with a promi-
nent vector such as Anopheles gambiae for malaria disease could blunt our new
biotechnological weapons for vector control (Alphey and Alphey 2014; Ferguson
etĀ al. 2010).
4 Vector-Borne Diseases
Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change
- Title
- Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change
- Authors
- Melissa Marselle
- Jutta Stadler
- Horst Korn
- Katherine Irvine
- Aletta Bonn
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-030-02318-8
- Size
- 15.5 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 508
- Keywords
- Environment, Environmental health, Applied ecology, Climate change, Biodiversity, Public health, Regional planning, Urban planning
- Categories
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima