Malaria is the deadliest of all mosquito-borne diseases. Thousands of malaria parasite species exploit squamate reptiles, birds, and mammals as vertebrate hosts as well as dipteran vectors. Among these, avian malaria and related parasites have revealed an extensive genetic diversity as well as phenotypic diversity with varying virulence, host range, distribution−offering an amenable experimental system which has played a key role in understanding the ecology and evolution of human malaria parasites. Since its discovery in 1885, avian malaria contributed a great deal to the success of the U.S. antimalarial program during World War II. From modelling the links between climate change and health from a conservation and public health perspectives, avian malaria offered new opportunities and a relatively tractable system which were otherwise diluted by socio-economic, vector control and infra-structural changes in the human malaria context. In this review, I highlight the importance of avian malaria research in understanding the influence of climate change, land use and deforestation on disease dynamics, and how this helps to understand the ecology and evolution of the disease both from human and wildlife perspectives.

疟疾是所有蚊媒疾病中最致命的。数以千计的疟原虫物种利用有鳞爬行动物、鸟类和哺乳动物作为脊椎动物宿主以及双翅目媒介。其中，禽疟疾和相关寄生虫揭示了广泛的遗传多样性和表型多样性，具有不同的毒力、宿主范围、分布——提供了一个合适的实验系统，在理解人类疟疾寄生虫的生态和进化方面发挥了关键作用。自 1885 年发现以来，禽疟疾为二战期间美国抗疟计划的成功做出了巨大贡献。从保护和公共卫生的角度模拟气候变化与健康之间的联系，禽疟疾提供了新的机会和相对易处理的系统，否则这些机会会因人类疟疾背景下的社会经济、病媒控制和基础设施变化而被淡化。在这篇综述中，我强调了禽疟疾研究在理解气候变化、土地利用和森林砍伐对疾病动态的影响方面的重要性，以及这如何有助于从人类和野生动物的角度理解疾病的生态和进化。