| Pathogenicity |
What is the severity, lethality, and rapidity (rate of mortality) of effects on hosts? |
| Environmental niche |
What environmental conditions (temperature, humidity) restrict persistence? |
Taxonomic breadth of host
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Is there evidence that the agent type can affect hosts across multiple taxa? Which taxa?
|
| Host characteristics |
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| Contact networks |
Spatial structure: What is the spatial structure of host populations: panmictic, metapopulations, or isolated? Does this vary across the landscape? |
| Movement patterns: What is the average and maximum distance an infected host might travel? |
| Social behavior: What is the social behavior of individual members in the host populations? What is the rate of contact between species? |
| Transmission pathways |
How is the pathogen transmitted between hosts? How many different transmission pathways are there? |
