Blog Post Image: March of the Pathogens: Parasite Metabolism Can Foretell Disease Ranges under Climate Change

Princeton University researchers developed a model that can help determine the future range of nearly any disease-causing parasite under climate change. The framework calculates how projected temperature change would alter the creature’s metabolism and life cycle. The researchers tested their model on a species of nematode, or roundworm, that lives in the Arctic and primarily infects caribou (above). As Arctic temperatures increase, the parasite’s infectious season could split from what is now a continuous spring-to-fall transmission season into two longer fall and spring seasons separated by a hot, unlivable summer. (Photo by Susan Kutz)