Recent advances in climate modeling and remote sensing have increased the expectation that finer-grained climate data will improve biological relevance. However, the appropriate scale for biology depends on the system and the question posed, and finer-grained data do not always improve inference in ecology and evolution. In this review we synthesize knowledge from micrometeorology, physiology, and landscape ecology to develop a framework integrating climatic and biological lenses for understanding the scales of climate exposure. This framework can aid multiscale investigation of microclimate effects on individuals, populations, and communities. We newly conceptualize systems of climate scale, provide recommendations for trait-based approaches to determine the scales relevant to climate–biology interactions, and highlight opportunities offered by novel methods and technologies.

Disease risk varies among ecological communities because species differ in their host quality, that is, their contribution to parasite fitness. We propose a four-component framework of host quality that harmonizes terminology across plant and animal domains. Using this framework, we demonstrate how the host defense strategies of resistance and tolerance relate to distinct components of host quality. Easily extendable to multi-parasite systems, the framework also helps to identify new ways of examining the continuum between specialist and generalist parasites. Ultimately, breaking down and formalizing the components of host quality helps with synthesizing disease ecology across domains and unlocking relationships between biodiversity and disease risk.