The parasitic load in cold northern climates is widely under-appreciated. Many texts on parasitology concentrate on tropical parasitic infections, so the reader can be forgiven for thinking that parasites are not a problem in the northern part of the world. Parasites of the Colder Climates redresses the balance by focusing on parasites indigenous t

Since the dawn of medical science, people have recognized connections between a change in the weather and the appearance of epidemic disease. With today's technology, some hope that it will be possible to build models for predicting the emergence and spread of many infectious diseases based on climate and weather forecasts. However, separating the effects of climate from other effects presents a tremendous scientific challenge. Can we use climate and weather forecasts to predict infectious disease outbreaks? Can the field of public health advance from "surveillance and response" to "prediction and prevention?" And perhaps the most important question of all: Can we predict how global warming will affect the emergence and transmission of infectious disease agents around the world? Under the Weather evaluates our current understanding of the linkages among climate, ecosystems, and infectious disease; it then goes a step further and outlines the research needed to improve our understanding of these linkages. The book also examines the potential for using climate forecasts and ecological observations to help predict infectious disease outbreaks, identifies the necessary components for an epidemic early warning system, and reviews lessons learned from the use of climate forecasts in other realms of human activity.

Homo sapiens rank among the most parasitized of all animals. In part this is because we know so much about all aspects of the biology of our species, but in addition, our varied habitat and diet and our global distribution exposes us to more infections than any other species. Whereas some familiar parasitic infections are responsible for much human disease and suffering, the great majority are rare or obscure forms ignored by all but the most comprehensive texts. The Parasites of Homo sapiens: An Annotated checklist of the Protozoa, Helminths and Arthropods for Which We Are Home, 2nd Edition presents a comprehensive listing of them all. Closely following the pattern of the first edition, this new edition incorporates a wealth of further information and data from the most recently published research findings. An indispensable guide for all parasitologists, it presents a comprehensive checklist of all animals naturally parasitic in or on the human body. Each parasite listed includes a complete summary of its characteristics. The structure of each entry includes: The scientific name of the parasite Synonyms for scientific names Status of reported human cases Geographical distribution and abundance Parasite habitat on humans Hosts Transmission mechanisms Human risk factors Indication of host-specificity status

Parasites and infectious diseases are everywhere and represent some of the most potent forces shaping the natural world. They affect almost every aspect imaginable in the life of their hosts, even as far as the structure of entire ecosystems. Hosts, in turn, have evolved complex defences, with immune systems being among the most sophisticated processes known in nature. In response, parasites have again found ways to manipulate and exploit their hosts. Ever since life began, hosts and parasites have taken part in this relentless co-evolutionary struggle with far-reaching consequences for us all. Today, concepts borrowed from evolution, ecology, parasitology, and immunology have formed a new synthesis for the study of host-parasite interactions. Evolutionary parasitology builds on these established fields of scientific enquiry but also includes some of the most successful inter-disciplinary areas of modern biology such as evolutionary epidemiology and ecological immunology. The first edition of this innovative text quickly became the standard reference text for this new discipline. Since then, the field has progressed rapidly and an update is now required. This new edition has been thoroughly revised to provide a state-of-the-art overview, from the molecular bases to adaptive strategies and their ecological and evolutionary consequences. It includes completely new material on topics such as microbiota, evolutionary genomics, phylodynamics, within-host evolution, epidemiology, disease spaces, and emergent diseases. Evolutionary Parasitology is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate level students, and interdisciplinary researchers from a variety of fields including immunology, genetics, sexual selection, population ecology, behavioural ecology, epidemiology, and evolutionary biology. Those studying and working in adjacent fields such as conservation biology, virology, medicine, and public health will also find it an invaluable resource for connecting to the bases of their science.

When studying the effects of parasites on natural populations, the avian haematozoa fulfills many of the specifications of an ideal model. Featuring a multitude of tables and illustrations, Avian Malaria Parasites and Other Haemosporidia summarizes more than a century of research on bird haemosporidians. For a long time, bird blood parasites served as important models in studying human diseases. Although now largely replaced, the wealth of data and research remain. With chapters addressing life cycles and morphology, pathogenicity, ultrastructure, geographical distribution, and illustrated keys to all known species of the parasites, this book is a masterful assessment of the biology of bird haemosporidian parasites.

Martens and Fishers (Martes) in Human-Altered Environments: An International Perspective examines the conditions where humans and martens are compatible and incompatible, and promotes land use practices that allow Martes to be representatively distributed and viable. All Martes have been documented to use forested habitats and 6 species (excluding the stone marten) are generally considered to require complex mid- to late-successional forests throughout much of their geographic ranges. All species in the genus require complex horizontal and vertical structure to provide escape cover protection from predators, habitat for their prey, access to food resources, and protection from the elements. Martens and the fisher have high metabolic rates, have large spatial requirements, have high surface area to volume ratios for animals that often inhabit high latitudes, and often require among the largest home range areas per unit body weight of any group of mammals. Resulting from these unique life history characteristics, this genus is particularly sensitive to human influences on their habitats, including habitat loss, stand-scale simplification of forest structure via some forms of logging, and landscape-scale effects of habitat fragmentation. Given their strong associations with structural complexity in forests, martens and the fisher are often considered as useful barometers of forest health and have been used as ecological indicators, flagship, and umbrella species in different parts of the world. Thus, efforts to successfully conserve and manage martens and fishers are associated with the ecological fates of other forest dependent species and can greatly influence ecosystem integrity within forests that are increasingly shared among wildlife and humans. We have made great strides in our fundamental understanding of how animals with these unique life history traits perceive and utilize habitats, respond to habitat change, and how their populations function and perform under different forms of human management and mismanagement. This knowledge enhances our basic understanding of all species of Martes and will help us to achieve the goal of conserving viable populations and representative distributions of the world’s Martes, their habitats, and associated ecological communities in our new millennium.

The evolution and life history of parasites, their role in shaping human history, as well as future threats posed by them.