Biodiversity inhibits parasites: Broad evidence for the dilution effect
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Significance: The dilution effect hypothesis suggests that diverse ecological communities limit disease spread via several mechanisms. Therefore, biodiversity losses could worsen epidemics that harm humans and wildlife. However, there is contentious debate over whether the hypothesis applies broadly, especially for parasites that infect humans. We address this fundamental question with a formal meta-analysis of >200 assessments relating biodiversity to disease in >60 host–parasite systems. We find overwhelming evidence of dilution, which is independent of host density, study design, and type and specialization of parasites. A second analysis identified similar effects of diversity in plant–herbivore systems. Thus, biodiversity generally decreases parasitism and herbivory. Consequently, human-induced declines in biodiversity could increase human and wildlife diseases and decrease crop and forest production.
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A rich literature on infectious diseases of wildlife, livestock, and plants demonstrates increased pathogen transmission when biodiversity is lost from some ecological communities, supporting the generality of this relationship across nonzoonotic disease systems as well.
“A rich literature on infectious diseases of wildlife, livestock, and plants demonstrates increased pathogen transmission when biodiversity is lost from some ecological communities (9, 53), supporting the generality of this relationship across nonzoonotic disease systems as well.”
From Impacts of biodiversity and biodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases (2021) · cites this paper as [9]
Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBiodiversity loss has been shown to often increase the risk of zoonotic diseases, for example, through the dilution effect.
“In contrast, biodiversity loss has been shown to often increase the risk of zoonotic diseases, for example, through the dilution effect (9).”
From Impacts of biodiversity and biodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases (2021) · cites this paper as [9]
The Results and Discussion report strong evidence that biodiversity reduces the abundance of zoonotic parasites. The paper says biodiversity declines *may* consequently increase human disease risk; it does not establish that such declines have often increased zoonotic disease risk in humans. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredUnder some conditions, high biological diversity can decrease the transmission of zoonotic diseases that have already become established.
“But for decades, we have also known that under some conditions, high biological diversity can decrease the transmission of zoonotic diseases that have already become established (8, 9).”
From Impacts of biodiversity and biodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases (2021) · cites this paper as [9]
A larger metaanalysis found that the dilution effect was as strong for zoonoses as for other types of diseases, a conclusion robust to criticisms from the authors of the earlier study.
“However, a larger metaanalysis found that the dilution effect was as strong for zoonoses as for other types of diseases (9), a conclusion that was robust to criticisms from the authors of the earlier study (57, 58).”
From Impacts of biodiversity and biodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases (2021) · cites this paper as [9]
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- Authors
- Civitello, D. J., Cohen, J., Fatima, H., Halstead, N. T., Liriano, J., McMahon, T. A., Ortega, C. N., Sauer, E. L., Sehgal, T., Young, S., & Rohr, J. R.
- Affiliations
- University of South Florida (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2015-06-11
- Volume
- 112
- Issue
- 28
- Pages
- 8667-8671
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4507196
- OpenAlex
- W1787861744
- Semantic Scholar
- 30ae28188a18cd22709c7ef13c462acd9260a5ea
- Cited by
- 758
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 38 · 2025: 72 · 2024: 83 · 2023: 61 · 2022: 81 · 2021: 114 · 2020: 78 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 54 · 2017: 51 · 2016: 49 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 50.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (EF-1241889, 1144244)
- HHS | National Institutes of Health (R01GM109499, F32AI112255)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (NRI 2006-01370, 2009-35102-0543)
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (CAREER 83518801)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Parasite Biology and Host Interactions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Zoonotic diseases and public health
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Keywords
- dilution effect, biodiversity, parasite abundance, host diversity, zoonoses, disease risk, host-parasite interactions, plant-herbivore interactions, herbivory, biodiversity loss, human disease, wildlife disease
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Disease Susceptibility, Host-Parasite Interactions, Humans, Parasitic Diseases, Biodiversity
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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