Land use changes may increase disease outbreak risks

Global changes in land use are disrupting the balance of wild animal communities in our environment, and species that carry diseases known to infect humans appear to be benefiting, finds a new UCL-led study. The research team, led by the UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, studied evidence from 6,801 ecological communities from six continents, and found that animals known to carry pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms) that can infect humans were more common in landscapes intensively used by people. The evidence was sourced from a dataset of 184 studies incorporating close to 7,000 species, 376 of which are known to carry human-shared pathogens. The researchers say we may need to alter how we use land across the world to reduce the risk of future spillovers of infectious diseases. Lead author, PhD candidate Rory Gibb (UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research) said: "The way humans change landscapes across the world, from natural forest to farmland for example, has consistent impacts on many wild animal species, causing some to decline while some others persist or increase. "Our findings show that the animals that remain in more human-dominated environments are those that are more likely to carry infectious diseases that can make people sick." Species that host zoonotic pathogens (which can jump from animals to people) constituted a higher proportion of the animal species found in human-influenced (disturbed) environments compared to the ecological communities in more wild habitats.