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Biodiversity and Infectious Disease

DOES IT MAKE YOU SICK WHEN ANIMALS GO EXTINCT?  IT COULD – LITERALLY. LESS SPECIES DIVERSITY MAY MEAN MORE INFECTIOUS DISEASE – LEARN WHY ON TODAY’S ENVIRONMINUTE.

MANY INFECTIOUS DISEASES THAT PROLIFERATE IN WILDLIFE CAN BE TRANSMITTED TO PEOPLE BY A MOSQUITO OR OTHER VECTOR.  LYME DISEASE, FOR INSTANCE, IS HARBORED BY WHITE-FOOTED MICE, BUT TRANSMITTED TO HUMANS BY TICKS.

SO WHY DOES INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPREAD WHEN BIODIVERSITY DWINDLES?  ECOLOGIST RICHARD OSTFELD OF THE NEW YORK-BASED INSTITUTE OF ECOSYTEM STUDIES EXPLAINS.

OSTFELD: WHEN BIODIVERSITY IS LOST, THE LAST SPECIES STANDING TEND TO BE THE SPECIES THAT ARE EXCELLENT RESERVOIR HOSTS FOR THESE PATHOGENS. 

YET WHEN MORE SPECIES OCCUPY AN AREA, COMPETITORS AND PREDATORS KEEP HOST POPULATIONS IN CHECK.

OSTFELD: THEY WILL BE THE HOST THAT THE TICK BITES INSTEAD OF THE WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE.

IT’S ONE MORE REASON TO CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY.

THE ENVIRONMINUTE IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE HEINZ FAMILY PHILANTHROPIES AND THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS.  LEARN MORE BY VISITING ENVIRONMINUTE-DOT-COM.     

Download more information here: http://www.biomed.emory.edu/PROGRAM_SITES/PBEE/pdf/mills3.pdf