Kyle Dahlin, Ph.D

Title: Trait-based modeling of mosquito-borne parasite transmission

Abstract. Mathematical models have been used to improve our understanding of the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) and to develop effective control methods for their elimination for over a century. Recently, the effect of temperature on MBD transmission has become a major focus as researchers contend with the impacts of global climate change. The emergence of infectious diseases out of wildlife populations and into human ones has also become a hot topic. However, such research has focused squarely on mosquitoes while mostly neglecting the role of the vertebrate host. In this talk, I will discuss how host trait variation drives dynamics in mathematical models of mosquito-borne parasite transmission. In particular, I show that the predicted optimal temperature for transmission may shift with changes in host density when realistic contact rates are used. Furthermore, I argue that incorporating realistic host trait co-variation can give us insights into targeting animal species for surveillance, to prevent future mosquito-borne disease epidemics.