(META)POPULATION DYNAMICS OF INFECTIOUS-DISEASES

The metapopulation concept provides a very powerful tool for analysing the persistence of spatially-disaggregated populations, in terms of a balance between local extinction and colonization. Exactly the same a pproach has been developed by epidemiologists, in order to understand patterns of diseases persistence. There is great scope for further cro ss-fertilization between these areas. Recent work on the spatiotempora l dynamics of measles illustrates that the large datasets and rich mod elling literature on many infectious diseases offer great potential fo r developing and testing ideas about metapopulations.