Ecoepidemics with a nonlinear disease incidence

TL;DR

This paper introduces two innovative ecoepidemiological models where herd behavior impacts disease transmission, revealing how epidemics can influence population dynamics, differing from traditional models focused on demographic interactions.

Contribution

The models incorporate herd behavior effects into disease incidence, providing new insights into ecoepidemiological dynamics beyond demographic interaction assumptions.

Findings

Herd behavior significantly alters disease spread dynamics.

Epidemics can impact population stability and outcomes.

Models show complex interactions between behavior and disease.

Abstract

We present two new models for interacting populations subject to a transmissible disease. The novelty lies in the assumption that herd behavior influences the disease incidence, rather than the demographic description of the interactions, as in previous related similar models. As it is already known from other ecoepidemiological situations, the epidemics may affect the system demographic outcomes.