Detecting Early-Warning Signals of Animal Disease from Space

The biodiversity crisis is being driven by climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, and emerging infectious diseases. Disease outbreaks are an existential threat to wild animal populations, creating both direct and indirect risks for human health. However, our ability to detect these threats early, and to mitigate them, is limited. This project uses satellite imagery to detect changes in wild animal behavior as early warning signals of disease. By integrating approaches from infectious disease ecology, animal cognition, and remote sensing, the team will test whether satellite imagery can help identify how pathogen infection changes animal behavior, which could enable early detection of infectious diseases in animal populations.