Theory of the Spread of Epidemics and Movement Ecology of Animals: An Interdisciplinary Approach using Methodologies of Physics

Description

Exploiting powerful techniques from physics and mathematics, this book studies animal movement in ecology, with a focus on epidemic spread. Pulmonary syndrome is not only feared in epidemics of recent times, such as COVID-19, but is also characteristic of epidemics studied earlier such as Hantavirus. The Hantavirus is one of the book's central topics. Correlations between epidemic outbreaks and precipitation events like El Nino are analyzed and spatial reservoirs of infection in off-period of the epidemic, known as refugia, are studied. Predicted traveling waves of infection are successfully compared to field observations. Territoriality in scent-marking animals is presented, with parallels drawn with the theory of melting. The flocking and herding of birds and mammals are described in terms of collective excitations. For scientists interested in movement ecology and epidemic spread, this book provides effective solutions to long-standing problems.

V. M. (Nitant) Kenkre is Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) of Physics at the University of New Mexico. He won the highest faculty recognition of his University, the Annual Research Award, in 2004. He was formerly the Director of the Center for Advanced Studies and the Founding Director of the Consortium of the Americas for Interdisciplinary Science at UNM. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science. He has been co-author and co-editor of two books on physics, has published two books on philosophy including one on What is Hinduism and one on poetry titled Tinnitus. Luca Giuggioli is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol. As a postdoc he joined the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton and in 2013 he co-founded the journal Movement Ecology of which he has been Co-Editor-in-Chief since. He has delivered special public lectures at the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Belur, West Bengal, and the Darul Islam mosque in Cape Town on spiritual values of human interactions in science.

'These authors have successfully written for adventurous interdisciplinary investigators who seek to understand how physics and biology can be combined to understand and develop effective strategies for disease containment. It would be difficult to find a more appropriate book for understanding and addressing the current pandemic ... Highly recommended.' M. Schaab, Choice