Define the Community ecology of disease?
Lyme disease is a debilitating infectious disease which has emerged in North America in the last two decades in the landscape context of a forested, fragmented, predator-free environment. Understanding, predicting, and finally controlling Lyme disease relies on understanding the landscape context, which can just be completed through the use of quantitative models that explain the interactions of ticks, woodland-dwelling vertebrates, and humans on a heterogeneous landscape. For instance, it may eventually be achievable to predict future Lyme risk from the size and spatial pattern of acorn crops, which influence movement of deer and population dynamics of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus).