Zoonotic host diversity increases in human-dominated ecosystems

doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2562-8

. 2020 Aug;584(7821):398-402.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2562-8. Epub 2020 Aug 5.

Zoonotic host diversity increases in human-dominated ecosystems

Rory Gibb^#¹, David W Redding^#², Kai Qing Chin¹, Christl A Donnelly^{3

4}, Tim M Blackburn^{1

5}, Tim Newbold¹, Kate E Jones^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK.
² Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK. d.redding@ucl.ac.uk.
³ Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁴ MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁵ Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK.
⁶ Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK. kate.e.jones@ucl.ac.uk.
⁷ Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK. kate.e.jones@ucl.ac.uk.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 32759999
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2562-8

Zoonotic host diversity increases in human-dominated ecosystems

Rory Gibb et al. Nature. 2020 Aug.

. 2020 Aug;584(7821):398-402.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2562-8. Epub 2020 Aug 5.

Authors

Rory Gibb^#¹, David W Redding^#², Kai Qing Chin¹, Christl A Donnelly^{3

4}, Tim M Blackburn^{1

5}, Tim Newbold¹, Kate E Jones^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK.
² Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK. d.redding@ucl.ac.uk.
³ Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁴ MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁵ Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK.
⁶ Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK. kate.e.jones@ucl.ac.uk.
⁷ Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK. kate.e.jones@ucl.ac.uk.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 32759999
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2562-8

Abstract

Land use change-for example, the conversion of natural habitats to agricultural or urban ecosystems-is widely recognized to influence the risk and emergence of zoonotic disease in humans^1,2. However, whether such changes in risk are underpinned by predictable ecological changes remains unclear. It has been suggested that habitat disturbance might cause predictable changes in the local diversity and taxonomic composition of potential reservoir hosts, owing to systematic, trait-mediated differences in species resilience to human pressures^3,4. Here we analyse 6,801 ecological assemblages and 376 host species worldwide, controlling for research effort, and show that land use has global and systematic effects on local zoonotic host communities. Known wildlife hosts of human-shared pathogens and parasites overall comprise a greater proportion of local species richness (18-72% higher) and total abundance (21-144% higher) in sites under substantial human use (secondary, agricultural and urban ecosystems) compared with nearby undisturbed habitats. The magnitude of this effect varies taxonomically and is strongest for rodent, bat and passerine bird zoonotic host species, which may be one factor that underpins the global importance of these taxa as zoonotic reservoirs. We further show that mammal species that harbour more pathogens overall (either human-shared or non-human-shared) are more likely to occur in human-managed ecosystems, suggesting that these trends may be mediated by ecological or life-history traits that influence both host status and tolerance to human disturbance^5,6. Our results suggest that global changes in the mode and the intensity of land use are creating expanding hazardous interfaces between people, livestock and wildlife reservoirs of zoonotic disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Species that can make us ill thrive in human habitats.
Ostfeld RS, Keesing F. Ostfeld RS, et al. Nature. 2020 Aug;584(7821):346-347. doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-02189-5. Nature. 2020. PMID: 32760034 No abstract available.
Why deforestation and extinctions make pandemics more likely.
Tollefson J. Tollefson J. Nature. 2020 Aug;584(7820):175-176. doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-02341-1. Nature. 2020. PMID: 32770149 No abstract available.

Cited by

Addressing challenge of zoonotic diseases through One Health approach.
Bhatia R. Bhatia R. Indian J Med Res. 2021 Mar;153(3):249-252. doi: 10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_374_21. Indian J Med Res. 2021. PMID: 33906985 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
The infectious disease trap of animal agriculture.
Hayek MN. Hayek MN. Sci Adv. 2022 Nov 4;8(44):eadd6681. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.add6681. Epub 2022 Nov 2. Sci Adv. 2022. PMID: 36322670 Free PMC article. Review.
Potentially zoonotic pathogens and parasites in opportunistically sourced urban brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) in and around Helsinki, Finland, 2018 to 2023.
Aivelo T, Alburkat H, Suomalainen N, Kukowski R, Heikkinen P, Oksanen A, Huitu O, Kivistö R, Sironen T. Aivelo T, et al. Euro Surveill. 2024 Oct;29(40):2400031. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.40.2400031. Euro Surveill. 2024. PMID: 39364602 Free PMC article.
Quality of Chinese government environmental health information disclosure during COVID-19 pandemic: Satisfaction survey on University students.
An R, Wang F, Hou Y, Hideki K. An R, et al. Front Public Health. 2022 Sep 23;10:948172. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.948172. eCollection 2022. Front Public Health. 2022. PMID: 36217540 Free PMC article.
Environmental DNA monitoring of oncogenic viral shedding and genomic profiling of sea turtle fibropapillomatosis reveals unusual viral dynamics.
Farrell JA, Yetsko K, Whitmore L, Whilde J, Eastman CB, Ramia DR, Thomas R, Linser P, Creer S, Burkhalter B, Schnitzler C, Duffy DJ. Farrell JA, et al. Commun Biol. 2021 May 12;4(1):565. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02085-2. Commun Biol. 2021. PMID: 33980988 Free PMC article.

See all "Cited by" articles

References

1. Myers, S. S. et al. Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 18753–18760 (2013). - PubMed - DOI - PMC
1. Gottdenker, N. L., Streicker, D. G., Faust, C. L. & Carroll, C. R. Anthropogenic land use change and infectious diseases: a review of the evidence. EcoHealth 11, 619–632 (2014). - PubMed - DOI
1. Keesing, F. et al. Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases. Nature 468, 647–652 (2010). - PubMed - PMC - DOI
1. Ostfeld, R. S. & LoGiudice, K. Community disassembly, biodiversity loss, and the erosion of an ecosystem service. Ecology 84, 1421–1427 (2003). - DOI
1. Johnson, P. T. J. et al. Living fast and dying of infection: host life history drives interspecific variation in infection and disease risk. Ecol. Lett. 15, 235–242 (2012). - PubMed - DOI

Publication types

Actions

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
- Nature Publishing Group
Other Literature Sources
- H1 Connect
Medical
- MedlinePlus Health Information

[1] Myers, S. S. et al. Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 18753–18760 (2013). - PubMed - DOI - PMC

[2] Myers, S. S. et al. Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 18753–18760 (2013). - PubMed - DOI - PMC

[3] Gottdenker, N. L., Streicker, D. G., Faust, C. L. & Carroll, C. R. Anthropogenic land use change and infectious diseases: a review of the evidence. EcoHealth 11, 619–632 (2014). - PubMed - DOI

[4] Gottdenker, N. L., Streicker, D. G., Faust, C. L. & Carroll, C. R. Anthropogenic land use change and infectious diseases: a review of the evidence. EcoHealth 11, 619–632 (2014). - PubMed - DOI

[5] Keesing, F. et al. Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases. Nature 468, 647–652 (2010). - PubMed - PMC - DOI

[6] Keesing, F. et al. Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases. Nature 468, 647–652 (2010). - PubMed - PMC - DOI

[7] Ostfeld, R. S. & LoGiudice, K. Community disassembly, biodiversity loss, and the erosion of an ecosystem service. Ecology 84, 1421–1427 (2003). - DOI

[8] Ostfeld, R. S. & LoGiudice, K. Community disassembly, biodiversity loss, and the erosion of an ecosystem service. Ecology 84, 1421–1427 (2003). - DOI

[9] Johnson, P. T. J. et al. Living fast and dying of infection: host life history drives interspecific variation in infection and disease risk. Ecol. Lett. 15, 235–242 (2012). - PubMed - DOI

[10] Johnson, P. T. J. et al. Living fast and dying of infection: host life history drives interspecific variation in infection and disease risk. Ecol. Lett. 15, 235–242 (2012). - PubMed - DOI

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Zoonotic host diversity increases in human-dominated ecosystems

Affiliations

Zoonotic host diversity increases in human-dominated ecosystems

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Comment in

Similar articles

Cited by

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Medical