| Summary: | Climate change and disease, among other factors, play an important role in the regulation and evolution of animal populations through the differential survival of individu- als (Holmes 1996; Harvell et al. 2002). The study and monitoring of disease is important because diseases are likely to be spread more rapidly now than in the recent past because of increased globalization and rapid human- induced climate change (Daszak et al. 2000; Ward & Lafferty 2004). Antarctic wildlife offers a unique oppor- tunity to study disease spread in terms of globalization and climate change because: (1) Antarctic animals are increasingly exposed to humans and other disease vectors, such as introduced species; and (2) there is strong evidence of climatic changes in and around Antarctica (Mayewski et al. 2009), which together may affect the composition and virulence of pathogens or increase the overlap between Antarctic and other seabirds and their parasites (e.g., Kovats et al. 2001).In their new book, Health of Antarctic wildlife: a challenge for science and policy, two pioneer researchers of the effects of humans on Antarctic wildlife, Knowles Kerry and Martin Riddle, bring together what is known about disease prevalence and the management of disease out- breaks in the Antarctic. This book and its many contributors—28 in all—provide an up-to-date overview of the health of Antarctic birds and seals. For any prac- tising biologist, ecologist or veterinarian interested in Antarctic biology this book is immensely valuable, not only because it brings together information from a wide range of fields and expertise, but also and perhaps most critically it describes exactly how suspicious die-offs should be treated to minimize the potential spread of disease, and to reduce the risk to the human researchers most likely to discover such events.
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