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    Unmanned aircraft systems for atudying apatial abundance of ungulates: relevance to spatial epidemiology

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    Complex ecological and epidemiological systems require multidisciplinary and innovative research. Low cost unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can provide information on the spatial pattern of hosts’ distribution and abundance, which is crucial as regards modelling the determinants of disease transmission and persistence on a fine spatial scale. In this context we have studied the spatial epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) in the ungulate community of Doñana National Park (South-western Spain) by modelling species host (red deer, fallow deer and cattle) abundance at fine spatial scale. The use of UAS high-resolution images has allowed us to collect data to model the environmental determinants of host abundance, and in a further step to evaluate their relationships with the spatial risk of TB throughout the ungulate community. We discuss the ecological, epidemiological and logistic conditions under which UAS may contribute to study the wildlife/livestock sanitary interface, where the spatial aggregation of hosts becomes crucial. These findings are relevant for planning and implementing research, fundamentally when managing disease in multi-host systems, and focusing on risky areas. Therefore, managers should prioritize the implementation of control strategies to reduce disease of conservation, economic and social relevance.The present work has benefited from the financial aid of research grants Junta de Comunidades Castilla-La Mancha (JCCM; PEII10- 0262-7673), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO; AGL2013-48523-C3-1-R), EU (FP7 grant 613779 WildTBVac), Aeromab Project (P07-RNM-03246), and the PLANET Project (EU, Cooperation, 7th FP, 2010). J.A.B. holds an FPU pre-doctoral scholarship. P.A. is supported by MINECO-UCLM through ‘Ramón y Cajal’ contract (RYC-2012-11970) and partly by European Research on Emerging and Major Infectious Diseases of Livestock (EMIDA-467 ERANET) grant APHAEA (219235-FP7- ERA-NETEMIDA; www.aphaea.eu).Peer reviewe
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