Global Change and Pathogen Distributions.

Global change and pathogen distributions.

Michael F. Antolin, Department off biology, Colorado State university, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1878

Global change encompasses the amalgam of anthropogenic change in ecosystems, including land use, human population density, trafficking in live plants and animals and altered biodiversity. One consequence of global change has been the emergence of pathogenic microorganisms (viruses, bacteria, and fungi). Here I describe patterns of disease emergence in agricultural systems, and how they are the consequence of altered disease ecology, pathogen evolution and the biogeographies (or lack ) of microbial communities.