Sacred Cows and Sympathetic Squirrels: The Importance of Biological Diversity to Human Health

Dobson, Andrew; Cattadori, Isabella M.; Holt, Robert D.; Ostfeld, Richard S.; Keesing, Felicia; Krichbaum, Kristle; Rohr, Jason R.; Perkins, Sarah E.; Hudson, Peter J.

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030231

Cited by 150 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

109

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, Harris and colleagues (Harris et al, 2009) found that interactions between pathogenic and non-pathogenic microbes on amphibian skin communities could help regulate disease. Second, the loss of species from temperate areas where local diversity is lower could cause proportionately greater increases in disease risk because of the smaller number of dilution hosts in the system (Fig.6) (Ostfeld and Keesing, 2000b;Dobson et al, 2006). Modeling and empirical efforts suggest that the consequences of species loss will be greatest Relative importance of species loss Latitude Latitude Species richness Dilution effect Relative importance of ind.…”

Section: How Does the Relationship Between Diversity And Disease Varymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of non-human decoys (e.g. livestock) to divert feeding mosquitoes away from humans may reduce vector-borne infections in the short term, but the increase in successful blood meals has the potential to cause long-term increases in mosquito populations and thereby increase the risk of subsequent human exposure (Saul, 2003;Dobson et al, 2006).…”

Section: Apparent Facilitation and The Net Effects Of Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Diversity, decoys and the dilution effect: how ecological communities affect disease risk

Johnson

Thieltges

2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

291

264

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SUMMARY Growing interest in ecology has recently focused on the hypothesis that community diversity can mediate infection levels and disease (‘dilution effect’). In turn, biodiversity loss — a widespread consequence of environmental change — can indirectly promote increases in disease, including those of medical and veterinary importance. While this work has focused primarily on correlational studies involving vector-borne microparasite diseases (e.g. Lyme disease, West Nile virus), we argue that parasites with complex life cycles (e.g. helminths, protists, myxosporeans and many fungi) offer an excellent additional model in which to experimentally address mechanistic questions underlying the dilution effect. Here, we unite recent ecological research on the dilution effect in microparasites with decades of parasitological research on the decoy effect in macroparasites to explore key questions surrounding the relationship between community structure and disease. We find consistent evidence that community diversity significantly alters parasite transmission and pathology under laboratory as well as natural conditions. Empirical examples and simple transmission models highlight the diversity of mechanisms through which such changes occur, typically involving predators, parasite decoys, low competency hosts or other parasites. However, the degree of transmission reduction varies among diluting species, parasite stage, and across spatial scales, challenging efforts to make quantitative, taxon-specific predictions about disease. Taken together, this synthesis highlights the broad link between community structure and disease while underscoring the importance of mitigating ongoing changes in biological communities owing to species introductions and extirpations.

show abstract

Section: How Does the Relationship Between Diversity And Disease Varymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Apparent Facilitation and The Net Effects Of Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity, decoys and the dilution effect: how ecological communities affect disease risk

Johnson

Thieltges

2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

291

264

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For instance, theoretical research has shown that predation and competition can influence rates of parasite infection by altering the population densities of hosts and vectors with varying degrees of competency (McCallum et al 2001, Packer et al 2003, Ostfeld and Holt 2004, Dobson et al 2006). Higher host densities can either increase density-dependent transmission (Ostfeld and Holt 2004) or reduce per capita exposure, when the source of infection is at least temporarily independent of host density (Raffel et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasitism in a community context: trait‐mediated interactions with competition and predation

Raffel

Hoverman

Halstead

et al. 2010

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Predation and competition can induce important density-and trait-mediated effects on species, with implications for community stability. However, interactions of these factors with parasitism remain understudied. Here we investigate interactions among competition, predation and parasitism by crossing tadpole density (Bufo americanus), presence of a caged predator (Notophthalmus viridescens), and Echinostoma trivolvis trematodes, experimentally partitioning their effects on tadpole exposure and susceptibility to infection. Predation did not affect E. trivolvis infection but accelerated tadpole development and growth, and decreased activity. The presence of E. trivolvis caused the opposite effects on these three responses and reduced tadpole survival. High conspecific density reduced tadpole survival, growth, and development, and increased tadpole activity. Effects of predation and parasitism on activity were only evident at low tadpole density. High-density mesocosms also had twice the number of E. trivolvis infections as low-density mesocosms, despite a lack of evidence for stress-induced immunomodulation. Instead, this effect was explained by high density delaying tadpole development, which increased both the duration of exposure to cercariae and susceptibility to infection, because tadpoles spent more time in highly susceptible early stages. These results highlight the importance of accounting for trait-mediated effects, host plasticity, and exposure vs. susceptibility in parasite ecology.

show abstract

“…This concurrence raises the possibility of a causal link between the two events and, with even larger future biodiversity declines expected, raises concerns for the future. Various investigators hypothesize that at the boundaries between areas of human habitation and human vacancy, animal biodiversity may prevent nonhuman pathogens from making the evolutionary transition to humans [29,30]. Nonetheless, animals in these areas still act as pathogen reservoirs that may contain organisms with the traits necessary to infect humans, a problem that becomes more acute as biodiversity and animal population sizes dwindle and pathogens or their vectors become more likely to encounter humans [31].…”

Section: Humans Biodiversity and Pathogens: The Future Of Infectioumentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity, Extinction, and Humanity’s Future: The Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Human Population and Resource Use

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human actions have altered global environments and reduced biodiversity by causing extinctions and reducing the population sizes of surviving species. Increasing human population size and per capita resource use will continue to have direct and indirect ecological and evolutionary consequences. As a result, future generations will inhabit a planet with significantly less wildlife, reduced evolutionary potential, diminished ecosystem services, and an increased likelihood of contracting infectious disease. The magnitude of these effects will depend on the rate at which global human population and/or per capita resource use decline to sustainable levels and the degree to which population reductions result from increased death rates rather than decreased birth rates.

show abstract

Sacred Cows and Sympathetic Squirrels: The Importance of Biological Diversity to Human Health

Abstract: Dobson and colleagues describe how some host species act to reduce the risk of transmission of virulent zoonotic pathogens to humans.

Cited by 150 publications

References 19 publications

Diversity, decoys and the dilution effect: how ecological communities affect disease risk

Diversity, decoys and the dilution effect: how ecological communities affect disease risk

Parasitism in a community context: trait‐mediated interactions with competition and predation

Biodiversity, Extinction, and Humanity’s Future: The Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Human Population and Resource Use

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About