A Time magazine article today highlights one of the local impacts of changing weather patterns on disease vectors. Because of all the rain that has fallen in the Southwest due to inputs of hurricane moisture from the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the associated flooding, mosquito populations in Phoenix and surrounding areas has doubled. Standing water from the storms has vastly increased the breeding grounds for these insects, which can carry West Nile disease among other ailments. You can read the story here.
Meanwhile, a story from Yale University discusses changes that have been seen across the world due to changing climate and land use changes, such as deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Land use changes alter the local environment, leading to changes which may make the land more or less hospitable to both the insects that carry diseases and the animals that feed on them. Climate changes can expand the range of some disease vectors, leading to expansion of disease-prone areas. That story is published here.
