The worldwide airline network and the dispersal of exotic species: 2007-2010.

ABSTRACT: International air travel has played a significant role in driving recent increases in the rates of biological invasion and spread of infectious diseases. By providing high speed, busy transport links between spatially distant, but climatically similar regions of the world, the worldwide airline network (WAN) increases the risks of deliberate or accidental movements and establishment of climatically sensitive exotic organisms. With traffic levels continuing to rise and climates changing regionally, these risks will vary, both seasonally and year-by-year. Here, detailed estimates of air traffic trends and climate changes for the period 2007-2010 are used to examine the likely directions and magnitudes of changes in climatically sensitive organism invasion risk across the WAN. Analysis of ove

SUBMITTER: Tatem AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2836027 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature