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Biodiversity inhibits parasites: Broad evidence for the dilution effect
Open accessAbstract
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 (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]
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“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]
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“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).”
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“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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“those with high biodiversity, may inhibit the spread of parasites if the number of susceptible species is diluted by a large number of non-susceptible species (Civitello et al., 2015), but anthropogenic impacts have caused dramatic declines in biodiversity worldwide.”
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Wang, B., Tian, C., & Liang, Y. (2020) · Forest Ecology and Management · doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118555 · Cited by 20
Mammal assemblage composition predicts global patterns in emerging infectious disease risk
Wang, Y., Matson, K. D., Santini, L., Visconti, P., Hilbers, J. P., Huijbregts, M. A. J., Xu, Y., Prins, H. H. T., Allen, T., Huang, Z. Y. X., et al. (2021) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/gcb.15784 · Cited by 20
“Some studies suggest that high biodiversity protects people from infectious diseases and that species loss increases disease risk (Civitello et al., 2015; Huang et al., 2017); other studies suggest biodiversity would be more likely to increase disease risk (Wood et al., 2014).”
BackgroundStrauss, A. T., Hite, J. L., Shocket, M. S., Cáceres, C. E., Duffy, M. A., & Hall, S. R. (2017) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.1970 · Cited by 22
Schmid, J., Rasche, A., Eibner, G. J., Jeworowski, L. M., Page, R. A., Corman, V. M., Drosten, C., & Sommer, S. (2018) · Oecologia · doi:10.1007/s00442-018-4210-7 · Cited by 23
Going beyond improving soil health: cover plants as contaminant removers in agriculture
Sharma, P., Reitz, T., Singh, S. P., Worrich, A., & Muehe, E. M. (2025) · Trends in Plant Science · doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2025.01.009 · Cited by 19
The urgency of wider adoption of one health approach for the prevention of a future pandemic
Hoque, M. N., Faisal, G. M., Chowdhury, F. R., Haque, A., & Islam, T. (2022) · International Journal of One Health · doi:10.14202/ijoh.2022.20-33 · Cited by 18
“Increasing demand for food from animal sources encourages the industrialization of animal products, leading to widespread deforestation and destruction of biodiversity, and is one of the root causes of zoonotic pathogen emergence [49].”
BackgroundChen, Y., Zhao, P., Xu, Q., Qu, B., Li, D., Clément, S., & Li, L. (2023) · One Health · doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100548 · Cited by 19
“For example, ecological communities of high biodiversity can inhibit the spread of parasites via regulating populations of susceptible hosts, while there are also concerns regarding to what level biodiversity can increase the risk of people's exposure to zoonotic pathogens [14,15].”
BackgroundWalsh, M., Webb, C. E., & Brookes, V. (2023) · One Health · doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100566 · Cited by 24
“7 example by way of local community composition and the dilution effect [74], or if conduits to transmission are primarily opened by the behaviour of the vectors, or perhaps some combination of both.”
BackgroundGarcía‐Moreno, J. (2023) · BioScience · doi:10.1093/biosci/biad074 · Cited by 21
“Several documented examples show that biodiversity loss can release carriers of human disease agents from predation and competition (Civitello et al. 2015 , Gascon et al. 2015 ).”
BackgroundLocal diversity reduces infection risk across multiple freshwater host‐parasite associations
Lagrue, C., & Poulin, R. (2015) · Freshwater Biology · doi:10.1111/fwb.12677 · Cited by 20
“high local diversity often decreases infection risk for focal host species, across a range of host and parasite types (Keesing et al., 2006, 2010; Ostfeld & Keesing, 2012; Civitello et al., 2015).”
BackgroundBiological Concepts for the Control of Aquatic Zoosporic Diseases
Frenken, T., Agha, R., Schmeller, D. S., van West, P., & Wolinska, J. (2019) · Trends in Parasitology · doi:10.1016/j.pt.2019.04.003 · Cited by 19
The evolution of macrosystems biology
LaRue, E. A., Rohr, J. R., Knott, J. A., Dodds, W. K., Dahlin, K. M., Thorp, J. H., Johnson, J. S., González, M. I. R., Hardiman, B. S., Keller, M., et al. (2021) · Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · doi:10.1002/fee.2288 · Cited by 19
“2018) and widespread diseases (Civitello et al .”
BackgroundSelf-citationTransient disease dynamics across ecological scales
Tao, Y., Hite, J. L., Lafferty, K. D., Earn, D. J. D., & Bharti, N. (2021) · Theoretical Ecology · doi:10.1007/s12080-021-00514-w · Cited by 19
“Negative correlations between host diversity and infection rate have been broadly found in recent studies, leading to suggestions of its generality (Keesing et al. 2010; Civitello et al. 2015).”
ResultSchmid‐Hempel, P. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198832140.003.0005 · Cited by 19
Drivers and Consequences of Viral Zoonoses: Public Health and Economic Perspectives
Banik, A., & Basu, S. (2025) · Zoonotic Diseases · doi:10.3390/zoonoticdis5040032 · Cited by 21
“Ecosystems with high biodiversity reduce the prevalence of zoonotic pathogens by the dilution effect [36,44].”
Westby, K. M., Sweetman, B. M., Horn, T. R. V., Biro, E. G., & Medley, K. A. (2019) · Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13004 · Cited by 18
Evolutionary rescue in host‐pathogen systems*
Searle, C. L., & Christie, M. R. (2021) · Evolution · doi:10.1111/evo.14269 · Cited by 18
Wang, Y., Matson, K. D., Prins, H. H. T., Xu, Y., Huang, Z., & de Boer, W. F. (2022) · Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases · doi:10.1016/j.ttbdis.2022.102073 · Cited by 19
MHC class II genes mediate susceptibility and resistance to coronavirus infections in bats
Schmid, D. W., Meyer, M., Wilhelm, K., Tilley, T., Link‐Hessing, T., Fleischer, R., Badu, E. K., Nkrumah, E. E., Oppong, S. K., Schwensow, N., et al. (2023) · Molecular Ecology · doi:10.1111/mec.16983 · Cited by 19
“…proteins, such as angiotensinconverting enzyme 2, are candidate host traits most informative to evaluate cross- species transmission potential (Frank et al., 2022), and likely explain mechanistically how greater host (genetic) diversity keeps pathogen prevalence in check (Civitello et al., 2015).”
BackgroundAbaba, G. (2023) · Mycology: An International Journal on Fungal Biology · doi:10.1080/21501203.2023.2241492 · Cited by 22
“Improved epidemics of pests and transferable diseases in wildlife have been linked to decreased biodiversity caused by human activities (King and Lively 2012; Ostfeld and Keesing 2012; Civitello et al. 2015).”
BackgroundCommunity-based biotic effects as determinants of tree resistance to pests and pathogens
Iason, G. R., Taylor, J. E., & Helfer, S. (2018) · Forest Ecology and Management · doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2018.01.037 · Cited by 18
Large herbivore loss has complex effects on mosquito ecology and vector‐borne disease risk
Tchouassi, D. P., Torto, B., Sang, R. C., Riginos, C., & Ezenwa, V. O. (2020) · Transboundary and Emerging Diseases · doi:10.1111/tbed.13918 · Cited by 19
“The idea that the loss of biodiversity can increase the risk of infectious diseases in animals and humans is a topic of ongoing interest (Cardinale et al., 2012; Civitello et al., 2015; Keesing et al., 2010; Rohr et al., 2019; Salkeld et al., 2013; Wood et al., 2014).”
BackgroundDavies, C. E., Briones‐Fourzán, P., & Lozano‐Álvarez, E. (2019) · Marine Biology · doi:10.1007/s00227-019-3563-8 · Cited by 17
Alkorta, I., & Garbisu, C. (2024) · Reviews on Environmental Health · doi:10.1515/reveh-2024-0013 · Cited by 17
Field, E., Schönrogge, K., Barsoum, N., Hector, A., & Gibbs, M. (2019) · Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1002/ece3.5357 · Cited by 17
“The reduction of pest and disease damage in mixtures may be due to a pure dilution effect, where lower host abundance in a given area reduces pest abundance on susceptible hosts, as pest species are un‐ able to build up to epidemic levels (Civitello et al., 2015).”
BackgroundElemental Ratios Link Environmental Change and Human Health
Paseka, R. E., Bratt, A. R., MacNeill, K. L., Burian, A., & See, C. R. (2019) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00378 · Cited by 18
“There is robust support for the dilution effect across a broad range of infectious disease systems, including human diseases (Civitello et al., 2015).”
BackgroundAlbers, H. J., Lee, K., Rushlow, J. R., & Zambrana‐Torrelio, C. (2020) · Environmental and Resource Economics · doi:10.1007/s10640-020-00449-6 · Cited by 18
“Economists, health scientists, and conservation actors alike call for more research and policy that simultaneously addresses conservation and disease risk (Salkeld et al. 2013; Civitello et al. 2015; Pattanayak et al. 2017).”
BackgroundHost–parasite interactions and climate change
Merino, S. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198824268.003.0014 · Cited by 17
“Distributional ecology (Estrada-Peña et al., 2014), ecological fitting (Agosta et al., 2010) and the biodiversity-buffersdisease paradigm (Civitello et al., 2015) are among those that still need to be explored in depth.”
BackgroundRe‐emphasizing mechanism in the community ecology of disease
Shaw, K. E., & Civitello, D. J. (2021) · Functional Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13892 · Cited by 16
Self-citationPrevalence of bat viruses associated with land-use change in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil
Loh, E. H., Nava, A. F. D., Murray, K. A., Olival, K. J., Guimarães, M., Shimabukuro, J. S., Zambrana‐Torrelio, C., Fonseca, F. R., de Oliveira, D. B. L., Campos, A. C. D. A., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fcimb.2022.921950 · Cited by 15
“Yet, previous studies examining the link between land-use change and disease in have been equivocal (Randolph and Dobson, 2012; Salkeld et al., 2013; Civitello et al., 2015; Rulli et al., 2017).”
BackgroundRevealing the complexity of vampire bat rabies “spillover transmission”
Escobar, L. E., Velasco-Villa, A., Satheshkumar, P. S., Nakazawa, Y., & de Vuurst, P. V. (2023) · Infectious Diseases of Poverty · doi:10.1186/s40249-023-01062-7 · Cited by 15
“As such, biodiversity losses due to global change could influence the propensity of viral spillover transmission [30], evidenced by previous studies on the influence of potential changes in wildlife species assemblages due to environmental change [31–34].”
Backgroundde Andreazzi, C. S., Martínez-Vaquero, L. A., Winck, G. R., Cardoso, T. D. S., Teixeira, B. R., Xavier, S. C. D. C., Gentile, R., Jansen, A. M., & D’Andrea, P. S. (2023) · Ecography · doi:10.1111/ecog.06579 · Cited by 16
Cravino, A., Perelló, A., & Brazeiro, A. (2023) · Animal Frontiers · doi:10.1093/af/vfad069 · Cited by 16
“The dilution effect hypothesis suggests that healthy and diverse communities limit the spread of certain types of disease (Civitello et al., 2015), signifying that biodiversity losses could worsen epidemics that harm humans and the production of animals, thus emphasizing the need for…”
BackgroundAndrade, D. C., de Morais, S. A., Marteis, L. S., Gama, R. A., Freire, R. C. D. M., Rekowsky, B. S. D. S., Ueno, H. M., & Corte, R. L. (2020) · Insects · doi:10.3390/insects11080468 · Cited by 16
“Thus, high diversity can help to protect people from mosquito-transmitted diseases [45].”
BackgroundHost evolutionary history predicts virus prevalence across bumblebee speciesPreprint
Pascall, D. J., Tinsley, M. C., Obbard, D. J., & Wilfert, L. (2018) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/498717 · Cited by 16
“These differences can be driven by, for example, the propensity for group living (Johnson et al. 2011), population densities (Arneberg et al. 1998), the biodiversity of the community (Civitello et al. 2015) and host avoidance behaviours (Curtis 2014).”
BackgroundBabyesiza, S. W., Mpagi, J. L., Ssuuna, J., Akoth, S., & Katakweba, A. A. S. (2023) · Journal of Parasitology Research · doi:10.1155/2023/7074041 · Cited by 15
“This could be explained with the dilution e ff ect, which implies that where species vary in susceptibility to infestation by parasites, higher diversity leads to lower infestation prevalence in hosts [65, 66].”
BackgroundSimoncini, A., & Massolo, A. (2023) · Food and Waterborne Parasitology · doi:10.1016/j.fawpar.2023.e00216 · Cited by 15
“This result suggests the existence of a dilution effect, whereby an increased diversity of species in host communities results in a decreased transmission (Civitello et al., 2015).”
Background
Metadata
- 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
- 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
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Parasitology › 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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