Journal
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 372, Issue 1722, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0116
Keywords
disease; diversity; dilution effect; susceptible host regulation; landscape ecology; land-use change
Categories
Funding
- James Smithson Fund of the Smithsonian Institution
- National Geographic Society [4691-91, 8846-10, 9106-12, 9291-13]
- National Science Foundation [DEB 1556786, DEB 1547679, DEB 1355122, LTREB BSR-97-07477, 03-16402, 08-16453, 12-56004, 12-56034, DEB-09-09670]
- African Elephant Programme of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [98210-0-G563]
- Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment
- Smithsonian Barcoding Network Grant
- Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee (SWC) [22, 44]
- National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- University of Wyoming
- University of Florida
- Princeton Environmental Institute's Grand Challenges Initiative
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1256034] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1256004] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1256034] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Understanding the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on zoonotic disease risk is both a critical conservation objective and a public health priority. Here, we evaluate the effects of multiple forms of anthropogenic disturbance across a precipitation gradient on the abundance of pathogen-infected small mammal hosts in a multi-host, multi-pathogen system in central Kenya. Our results suggest that conversion to cropland and wildlife loss alone drive systematic increases in rodent-borne pathogen prevalence, but that pastoral conversion has no such systematic effects. The effects are most likely explained both by changes in total small mammal abundance, and by changes in relative abundance of a few high-competence species, although changes in vector assemblages may also be involved. Several pathogens responded to interactions between disturbance type and climatic conditions, suggesting the potential for synergistic effects of anthropogenic disturbance and climate change on the distribution of disease risk. Overall, these results indicate that conservation can be an effective tool for reducing abundance of rodent-borne pathogens in some contexts (e.g. wildlife loss alone); however, given the strong variation in effects across disturbance types, pathogen taxa and environmental conditions, the use of conservation as public health interventions will need to be carefully tailored to specific pathogens and human contexts. This article is part of the themed issue 'Conservation, biodiversity and infectious disease: scientific evidence and policy implications'.
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