Michael Reiskind

Area(s) of Expertise

I am interested in how the ecology of arthropod vectors determines the epidemiology of infectious disease. As all arthropods are ectotherms, their growth and survival is sensitive to abiotic conditions, particularly temperature, humidity, precipitation. Furthermore, species distributions are also sensitive to these conditions, as well as land-use patterns and underlying biological communities. As vector size, survival, and abundance determine the ability of a population of vectors to transmit disease, the epidemiology of disease is also dependent upon these global change factors.