Lessons from sea lice and salmon epidemiology laid out in new paper

Effective disease management can benefit from mathematical models that identify drivers of epidemiological change and help to guide decision-making. A new study recently published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, and co-authored by Dr. Brendan Connors of ESSA, provides a synthesis of the mathematical and statistical models that have been used to study the epidemiology of sea lice and salmon. When combined with experimental manipulations at a scale relevant to management, these models can be used to quantify population-level effects of disease or other stressors on animal populations. As salmon aquaculture becomes more prominent along British Columbia’s coastline, these types of modelling approaches will become an increasingly useful tool for informing decision-making around the management of our marine resources.

Read the full open-access article at Proceedings of the Royal Society B:

Groner, M.L., Rogers, L.A., Bateman A.W., Connors, B.M., et al. 2016. Lessons from sea louse and salmon epidemiology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B – Biological Science. Available online first: DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0203.