ABSTRACT
Ecological epidemiology of wildlife diseases is a eld in which ecological models are increasingly used for decision support, including control legislation. Models are used to design eld experiments and sometimes even to substitute for eld experiments. The establishment of ecological models in this eld took about 10 years and was based on increasing condence of the stakeholders involved. The models in use reect expert knowledge on small-scale processes and extrapolate them to larger scales. Validation and mechanistic understanding were key issues for the acceptance of models aimed at decision support.
