Human Aeroecology

Myself, Bryan Gick (as co-first author) and Mark Jermy recently published “Human Aeroecology” in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. To quote: “Airspace has been recognized as habitat for at least a decade (Diehl, 2013). However, the ecology of airspace has generally been defined with respect to airborne lifeforms such as birds and insects (e.g., Chilson et al., 2017). Humans are as much creatures of the air as lifeforms that walk the ocean floor are creatures of the sea. Yet, little is understood about the full scope of human interaction with the airspace, much of which is normally invisible and intangible. Topics relating to human aeroecology have long remained isolated at the periphery of many disparate fields.”

“Here we identify five broad areas within human aeroecology that researchers have developed over the past years, and which we argue would benefit from focused collaboration. These include but are not limited to: Airscape Design; Air Quality for Comfort, Health, Education and Productivity (Air Quality for CHEaP); Shared Airspaces for Social Connection; Auditory, Aerotactile, Olfactory, and Visual Communication; and Pathogen Transmission, as seen in Figure 1.”

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