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Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases

Nature volume 468, pages 647–652 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Current unprecedented declines in biodiversity reduce the ability of ecological communities to provide many fundamental ecosystem services. Here we evaluate evidence that reduced biodiversity affects the transmission of infectious diseases of humans, other animals and plants. In principle, loss of biodiversity could either increase or decrease disease transmission. However, mounting evidence indicates that biodiversity loss frequently increases disease transmission. In contrast, areas of naturally high biodiversity may serve as a source pool for new pathogens. Overall, despite many remaining questions, current evidence indicates that preserving intact ecosystems and their endemic biodiversity should generally reduce the prevalence of infectious diseases.

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Figure 1: Roles of host species in the transmission of Lyme disease in the northeastern USA.
Figure 2: Drivers and locations of emergence events for zoonotic infectious diseases in humans from 1940–2005.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the joint NSF-NIH Ecology of Infectious Disease programme and the EPA Biodiversity and Human Health programme. M. Gillespie provided help in the preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Bard College, Annandale, 12504, New York, USA

    Felicia Keesing

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, 24061, Virginia, USA

    Lisa K. Belden

  3. EcoHealth Alliance, New York, 10001, New York, USA

    Peter Daszak & Tiffany Bogich

  4. EEB, Eno Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544-3417, New Jersey, USA

    Andrew Dobson

  5. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853, New York, USA

    C. Drew Harvell

  6. Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611, Florida, USA

    Robert D. Holt

  7. Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, College Station, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Peter Hudson

  8. College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, 97331-4801, Oregon, USA

    Anna Jolles

  9. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, NW1 4RY, UK

    Kate E. Jones

  10. Department of Biology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27599, North Carolina, USA

    Charles E. Mitchell

  11. Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Samuel S. Myers

  12. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, 12545, New York, USA

    Richard S. Ostfeld

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  1. Felicia Keesing
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Contributions

F.K. and R.S.O. conceived the review. F.K., L.K.B., P.D., A.D., C.D.H., R.D.H., P.H., A.J., K.E.J., C.E.M., S.S.M. and R.S.O. wrote and edited the text. T.B. prepared Fig. 2.

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Correspondence to Felicia Keesing.

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Keesing, F., Belden, L., Daszak, P. et al. Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases. Nature 468, 647–652 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09575

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