Their analysis, in a forthcoming issue of Ecology Letters, shows that marine epidemics spread about 100 times faster than comparable terrestrial epidemics. The factors behind this large difference in rates of spread are not clear at present, but may relate to the lack of barriers to pathogen dispersal in marine environments, or to better long term survival of mobile infectious stages.
This result warns that emerging diseases may pose particularly severe threats to marine ecosystems.
Ecology Letters