Most arthropods are ectotherms, which are organism in which internal physiological sources of heat are of relatively small. Therefore, when temperature increases, vector abundance, survival, and feeding activity will also increase. 

Temperature Increase and Vectors

Water plays an important role in many arthropods' reproductive cycle. Many lays their eggs in stagnant water. Therefore, increased precipitation can lead to more breeding sites, as rainwater will pool up near human residences and roads. However, extreme drought can also provide more breeding sites due to an increase in containers to store rainwater, which are stagnant.

Precipitation and Vectors

Climate change can possibly alter entire ecosystem habitats. When habitats are no longer suitable for living, many vector hosts, such as birds, will shift migration patterns or move to a more suitable living area. Changes in residence of these animals can increase rate of transmission of a disease or bring the disease to a new area.

Climate Change and Vector Hosts

Since climate change affects the abundance and survival of a vector and possibly increase the incidences of a disease, it will have many public health consequences such as:
- Time lag between changes to climate that makes a non-endemic area endemic, actual establishment of vector and pathogen, reports of cases.
- pathogen/vector evolution accelerates due to higher replication rate, thus  impacting disease emergence, re-emergence, and spread
- wide socioeconomic impacts, increase in health inequities, decline of  socioeconomic development
- Can overwhelm healthcare systems and other sectors like tourism



Public Health Consequences and Climate Change

Natural disasters such as cyclones and flooding may increase the number of vectors. Although breeding sites may be initially washed away, standing water caused by heavy rainfall will create new breeding sites, thus increasing the vector population. The risk of disease transmission will also increase due to:
- crowding of infected and susceptible hosts
- a weakened public health infrastructure
- interruptions of ongoing control programs 

Natural Disasters and Vectors

Climate is a important factor that determines the rate of transmission of a disease. Changes in climate can lead to:
- Geographic shifts of vector and reservoirs
- Changes in rates of development, survival, reproduction of vectors, reservoirs, and pathogens

Such changes can lead to an increase in transmission and expansion of diseases in to other regions.


University of California, Davis

A vector is an organism which transmits infection by conveying the pathogen from one host to another without causing disease itself, may be part of the infectious process.

Vector

Patz, Jonathan A, et al. “Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Global Health.” JAMA, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 Oct. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6108836/. 

Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Global Health

Vector borne disease is a disease that is transmitted to humans, plants, and animals by any arthropod species. 

Vector Borne Diseases

Vector competence defines the ability of a particular arthropod to transmit a given virus. For example, the overall mosquito barriers and antiviral responses toward pathogens would contribute to the mosquito's vector competence.

Vector Competence

Vectorial capacity describes the basic reproductive rate of a vector borne pathogen by a particular vector species or population. The formula below describes the total number of future infectious bites from mosquitos biting an individual infectious host on a single day.

Vectorial Capacity

Climate and Vector Borne Diseases

When vectors represent examples from real-world datasets, their scalar elements correspond to specific features or quantities with real-world significance. For instance, a vector representing a medical patient might have components corresponding to vital signs and cholesterol levels, while a vector for a loan applicant might encode income and employment history.

Real-World Significance of Vectors

The individual scalar values that comprise a vector are referred to as its elements. In mathematical and computational contexts, these are also interchangeably called entries or components.

Element of a Vector

To prevent ambiguity, deep learning terminology makes a strict distinction between 'order' and 'dimensionality'. The 'order' of a tensor refers to its number of axes, whereas 'dimensionality' exclusively refers to the number of components or elements along a specific axis (e.g., a vector's length).

Tensor Order vs. Dimensionality

In mathematics and deep learning, vectors are typically distinguished from scalars through specific typographical conventions. A standard approach is to denote a vector using a bold lowercase letter, such as $$\mathbf{x}$$, $$\mathbf{y}$$, or $$\mathbf{z}$$, which visually differentiates it from an unbolded scalar variable like $$x$$.

Typographical Conventions for Vectors

To formally indicate that a vector $$\mathbf{x}$$ contains $$n$$ elements, it is written as $$\mathbf{x} \in \mathbb{R}^n$$. In this notation, $$n$$ defines the dimensionality of the vector, signifying that it belongs to the mathematical space of all $$n$$-dimensional vectors with real-valued components.

Dimensionality Notation for Real-Valued Vectors

A vector, denoted by a bold lowercase letter such as $$\mathbf{x}$$, can be defined by explicitly listing its elements. This component-wise representation is an ordered sequence of scalars, commonly written as $$\mathbf{x} = (x_1, x_2, \dots, x_n)$$, where $$n$$ represents the vector's dimensionality.

Component-wise Notation for a Vector

By default, vectors are visualized as column vectors, where their elements are stacked vertically. In formal mathematical notation, a vector $$\mathbf{x}$$ with elements $$x_1, \ldots, x_n$$ is represented as a column matrix enclosed in brackets:
$$ \mathbf{x} = \begin{bmatrix} x_{1} \\ \vdots \\ x_{n} \end{bmatrix} $$
This is in contrast to row vectors, whose elements are stacked horizontally.

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