The DOI matches its Crossref record; 34 of the 34 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“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]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“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]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“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]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“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]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Conducting Meta-Analyses in R with the metafor Package
Viechtbauer, W. (2010) · Journal of Statistical Software · doi:10.18637/jss.v036.i03 · Cited by 20,464
Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2009) · doi:10.1002/9780470743386 · Cited by 14,225
Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2021) · doi:10.1002/9781119558378 · Cited by 9,799
Global trends in emerging infectious diseases
Jones, K. E., Patel, N. G., Levy, M. A., Storeygard, A., Balk, D., Gittleman, J. L., & Daszak, P. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature06536 · Cited by 8,338
Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity
Cardinale, B. J., Duffy, J. E., Gonzalez, A., Hooper, D. U., Perrings, C., Venail, P., Narwani, A., Mace, G. M., Tilman, D., Wardle, D. A., et al. (2012) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature11148 · Cited by 7,457 · cited 3×
“cited sections of these articles, as well as those of reviews and meta-analyses of related topics (10, 13, 23).”
BackgroundEffect size, confidence interval and statistical significance: a practical guide for biologists
Nakagawa, S., & Cuthill, I. C. (2007) · Biological Reviews · doi:10.1111/j.1469-185x.2007.00027.x · Cited by 3,835
Ecosystems and human well-being: current state and trends
Hassan, R., Scholes, R. J., & Ash, N. (2005) · Cited by 2,582
Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases
Keesing, F., Belden, L. K., Daszak, P., Dobson, A., Harvell, C. D., Holt, R. D., Hudson, P., Jolles, A., Jones, K. E., Mitchell, C. E., et al. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature09575 · Cited by 2,043
The case of the misleading funnel plot
Lau, J., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Terrin, N., Schmid, C. H., & Olkin, I. (2006) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7568.597 · Cited by 1,766
Effects of species diversity on disease risk
Keesing, F., Holt, R. D., & Ostfeld, R. S. (2006) · Ecology Letters · doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00885.x · Cited by 1,642
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 401–500 of 763
Blache, N., Chalvet‐Monfray, K., Déprés, C., & Morand, S. (2025) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2025.e41893 · Cited by 7
Sulphide-toxic habitats are not refuges from parasite infections in an extremophile fish
Riesch, R., Morley, N. J., Jourdan, J., Arias‐Rodríguez, L., & Plath, M. W. (2020) · Acta Oecologica · doi:10.1016/j.actao.2020.103602 · Cited by 7
Trillo, P. A., Bernal, X. E., & Hall, R. J. (2023) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2022.0109 · Cited by 6
“Pathogen dilution and amplification are widely documented for vectors and parasites infecting diverse host communities [2,15].”
BackgroundPruvot, M., Chea, S., Hul, V., In, S., Buor, V., Ramassamy, J., Fillieux, C., Sek, S., Sor, R., Ros, S., et al. (2023) · One Earth · doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2023.11.003 · Cited by 7
Potential of undersown species identity versus diversity to manage disease in crops
Cappelli, S. L., Domeignoz‐Horta, L. A., Gerin, S. R., Heinonsalo, J., Lohila, A., Raveala, K., Schmid, B., Shrestha, R., Tiusanen, M. J., Thitz, P., et al. (2024) · Functional Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2435.14592 · Cited by 7
Environmental and ecological factors affecting tick infestation in wild birds of the Americas
Busi, A., Martínez‐Sánchez, E. T., Alvarez‐Londoño, J., Rivera‐Páez, F. A., Ramirez-Chaves, H. E., Fontúrbel, F. E., & Castaño‐Villa, G. J. (2024) · Parasitology Research · doi:10.1007/s00436-024-08246-6 · Cited by 7
“According to this hypothesis, communities with greater diversity and equity of host species decrease the probability of encounters between ticks and highest-quality hosts (Ostfeld and Keesing 2000; LoGiudice et al. 2008; Civitello et al. 2015).”
BackgroundStrong and consistent effects of waterbird composition on HPAI H5 occurrences across Europe
Yin, S., Xu, C., Zhang, Y., de Boer, W. F., Mundkur, T., Artois, J., Velkers, F. C., Takekawa, J. Y., Si, Y., Tian, H., et al. (2024) · Ecological Applications · doi:10.1002/eap.3010 · Cited by 7
Wilber, M. Q., Johnson, P. T. J., & Briggs, C. J. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316479964.018 · Cited by 7
“Civitello, et al. (2015). ‘Biodiversity inhibits parasites: broad evidence for the dilution effect’.”
BackgroundAvoiding artifacts when varying the number of species in ecological models
de Espanés, P. M., Ramos‐Jiliberto, R., & Soto, J. A. (2021) · Ecology Letters · doi:10.1111/ele.13775 · Cited by 7
Widin, S. L., Billings, K. M., McGowen, J. A., & Cardinale, B. J. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0267674 · Cited by 7
“Given these limitations, there has been recent interest in developing better methods of fungal control in algal feedstock systems [28, 29].”
MethodA healthy but depleted herd: Predators decrease prey disease and density
Lopez, L. K., Cortez, M. H., DeBlieux, T. S., Menel, I. A., O'Brien, B. K., Cáceres, C. E., Hall, S. R., & Duffy, M. A. (2023) · Ecology · doi:10.1002/ecy.4063 · Cited by 7
Effect of epidemic diseases on wild animal conservation
Hu, B., Han, S., & He, H. (2023) · Integrative Zoology · doi:10.1111/1749-4877.12720 · Cited by 9
Merging socioecological variables to predict risk of Chagas disease
Rocha‐Ortega, M., Nava-Bolaños, Á., & Córdoba‐Aguilar, A. (2024) · Acta Tropica · doi:10.1016/j.actatropica.2023.107098 · Cited by 7
Wildlife and parasitic infections: A One Health perspective in Greece
Tsokana, C. N., Sioutas, G., Symeonidou, I., & Papadopoulos, E. (2024) · Current Research in Parasitology and Vector-Borne Diseases · doi:10.1016/j.crpvbd.2024.100184 · Cited by 7
“In contrast, this risk is reduced in ecosystems with rich biodiversity due to the so-called “ dilution effect ” ; the prevalence of infection in reservoir hosts is reduced when a high diversity of host species exists in a habitat (Civitello et al., 2015).”
BackgroundDecision-Making and Credition Under a Microbial Perspective
Berg, G., & Sensen, M. (2017) · New approaches to the scientific study of religion · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-50924-2_32 · Cited by 6
Vector-borne parasite invasion in communities across space and time
Vinson, J. E., & PARK, A. W. (2019) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.2614 · Cited by 7
“Across disease systems, evidence for this ‘dilution effect’ is equivocal [19,20] and has led to a call for a more mechanistic framework to clarify conditions whereby parasites benefit from reduced host species diversity [19,21].”
BackgroundResultSchmidt, R., Auge, H., Deising, H. B., Hensen, I., Mangan, S. A., Schädler, M., Stein, C., & Knight, T. M. (2020) · Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1002/ece3.6292 · Cited by 7
“…dilution effect, a reduction in disease levels observed when host species diversity is high and when hosts vary in their susceptibility to a pathogen (Civitello et al., 2015; Ostfeld & Keesing, 2000), can cause patterns of high local host specificity of pathogens (see also Rottstock et al., 2014).”
BackgroundLugassy, L., Amdouni-Boursier, L., Alout, H., Berrebi, R., Boëte, C., Boué, F., Boulanger, N., Durand, T., Garine-Wichatitsky, M. D., Larrat, S., et al. (2021) · Environmental Evidence · doi:10.1186/s13750-021-00220-4 · Cited by 9
“Among them, the dilution effect has been particularly well studied and debated [16–20].”
BackgroundCreed, R. P., Bailey, G. L., Skelton, J., & Brown, B. L. (2022) · River Research and Applications · doi:10.1002/rra.3940 · Cited by 9
“Like Johnson et al. (2013), Civitello et al. (2015) found that the frequency of focal host species was more important than their density for reducing parasite abundance.”
BackgroundInfluentialHost traits and competitive ability jointly structure disease dynamics and community assembly
Kirk, D., Shea, D. W., & Start, D. (2019) · Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13028 · Cited by 7
Functional similarity, not phylogenetic relatedness, predicts the relative strength of competitionPreprint
Mahon, M. B., Jennings, D. E., Civitello, D. J., Lajeunesse, M. J., & Rohr, J. R. (2021) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2021.07.21.453226 · Cited by 7
Self-citationAtrazine and Amphibians: A Story of Profits, Controversy, and Animus
Rohr, J. R. (2017) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809665-9.09885-2 · Cited by 7
Self-citationDouchet, P., Haegeman, B., Allienne, J., Boissier, J., Senghor, B., & Rey, O. (2024) · Infectious Diseases of Poverty · doi:10.1186/s40249-024-01232-1 · Cited by 6
“Moreover, an imbalance in the abundance of species assemblages in an existing community can favor certain competent host species to the detriment of many non-competent organisms, which, when present, mitigate the circulation of parasites through a dilution effect [9].”
BackgroundParasites in a Changing World: Troublesome or in Trouble?
Wood, C. L. (2024) · Annual Review of Animal Biosciences · doi:10.1146/annurev-animal-111523-102039 · Cited by 9
Adaptive ecosystem restoration to mitigate zoonotic risks
Ecke, F., Semenza, J. C., Bužan, E., Costa, F., Giorgi, E., Guo, J., Kirkpatrick, L., Knauf, S., Meheretu, Y., Singh, N. J., et al. (2025) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-025-02869-3 · Cited by 9
“Although there is consensus that biodiversity loss tends to increase disease risk 18,21–25 , the reverse remains less clear and ambiguous.”
Plant community-mediated effects of grazing on plant diseases
Mipam, T. D., Chen, F., Tian, L., Zhang, P., Huang, M., Chen, L., Wang, X., Zhang, P., Lin, Z., & Liu, X. (2022) · Oecologia · doi:10.1007/s00442-022-05223-7 · Cited by 8
“Increasing plant diversity is often associated with a reduction in plant disease risk or prevalence, which is known as the dilution effect (Keesing et al. 2006; Civitello et al. 2015; Halliday et al. 2018; Halliday and Rohr 2020; Liu et al. 2020a; Rohr et al. 2020).”
BackgroundThe more, the healthier: Tree diversity reduces forest pests and pathogens
Keesing, F., & Ostfeld, R. S. (2024) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3002525 · Cited by 6
Strauss, A. T., Hobbie, S. E., Reich, P. B., Seabloom, E. W., & Borer, E. T. (2024) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-60725-z · Cited by 6
“In addition to physically interfering with transmission, non-hosts often compete with hosts for space or resources, thereby limiting biomass of hosts and the density-dependent spread of their specialist pathogens 22,23,25,30 .”
BackgroundUrbano, P., Hernández, C., Ballesteros, N., Vega, L., Alvarado, M., Velásquez-Ortiz, N., Martínez, D., Barragán, K., Ramírez, A., Páez-Triana, L., et al. (2024) · International Journal for Parasitology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2024.05.001 · Cited by 6
Chaves, L. S. M., Bergo, E. S., Bickersmith, S. A., Laporta, G. Z., Conn, J. E., & Sallum, M. A. M. (2024) · Malaria Journal · doi:10.1186/s12936-024-04984-1 · Cited by 10
Comparing the differing effects of host species richness on metrics of disease
Cortez, M. H. (2024) · Ecological Monographs · doi:10.1002/ecm.1626 · Cited by 8
Diversity and Host Specificity of Avian Haemosporidians in an Afrotropical Conservation Region
Ndlovu, M., Wardjomto, M. B., Pori, T., & Nangammbi, T. C. (2024) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani14192906 · Cited by 6
“Hence, Civitello et al. [48] stressed that human-induced biodiversity loss would increase wildlife disease prevalence.”
BackgroundBassi, L., Hennecke, J., Albracht, C., Solbach, M. D., Rai, A., de Souza, Y. P. A., Fox, A., Ming, Z., Döll, S., van Doan, C., et al. (2025) · New Phytologist · doi:10.1111/nph.20434 · Cited by 6
The relationship between biodiversity and infectious disease: Progress, challenge and perspective
Liu, X., Chen, L., & Zhou, S. (2020) · Biodiversity Science · doi:10.17520/biods.2020218 · Cited by 6
Nunn, C. L., Vining, A. Q., Chakraborty, D., Reiskind, M. H., & Young, H. S. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256456 · Cited by 7
“factors, including climate change and environmental perturbation, have contributed to increases in emerging infectious disease [40], changes in host diversity and host composition have repeatedly been hypothesized to drive these patterns [3, 41, 42].”
BackgroundHaywood, C. J., Jordon, A. M., Peña, M. T., Nielsen, C. K., & Jiménez, F. A. (2022) · Journal of Parasitology · doi:10.1645/21-76 · Cited by 6
“…density of armadillos could benefit wildlife and humans by acting as definitive hosts of Trypanosoma cruzi, as high diversity of compatible hosts can lead to a decrease in disease risk in individuals of different species (i.e., via the dilution effect; Keesing et al., 2006; Civitello et al., 2015).”
BackgroundThe first arriving virus shapes within-host viral diversity during natural epidemics
Jokinen, M., Sallinen, S., Jones, M. M., Sirén, J., Guilbault, E., Susi, H., & Laine, A. (2023) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2023.1486 · Cited by 6
Stel, M., & Banach, N. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20216987 · Cited by 6
“This increases animal–human contact and, thus, zoonotic infections [11,24].”
BackgroundNon-linear effects of non-host diversity on the removal of free-living infective stages of parasites
Welsh, J. E., Marković, M., van der Meer, J., & Thieltges, D. W. (2024) · Oecologia · doi:10.1007/s00442-023-05462-2 · Cited by 6
“…instead idiosyncratic is still under intense debate (Randolph and Dobson 2012; Lafferty and Wood 2013; Ostfeld and Keesing 2013; Salkeld et al. 2013; Wood and Lafferty 2013; Civitello et al. 2015; Johnson et al. 2015; Halsey 2019; Halliday et al. 2020; Rohr et al. 2020; Keesing and Ostfeld 2021).”
BackgroundResultWang, Y. P., Xiao, R., Hu, Y., Li, J., Guo, C., Zhang, L., Zhang, K., Jorquera, M. A., & Pan, W. (2024) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124408 · Cited by 6
Lugassy, L., Amdouni-Boursier, L., Alout, H., Berrebi, R., Boëte, C., Boué, F., Boulanger, N., Cosson, J., Durand, T., Garine-Wichatitsky, M. D., et al. (2019) · Environmental Evidence · doi:10.1186/s13750-019-0147-5 · Cited by 7
Host Specialization and Dispersal in Avian Haemosporidians
Lima, M. R., & Pérez‐Tris, J. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-51633-8_11 · Cited by 6
McIntire, K. M., Chappell, K. M., & Juliano, S. A. (2021) · Ecology · doi:10.1002/ecy.3452 · Cited by 7
Stensgaard, A., Kristensen, T. K., Jørgensen, A., Kabatereine, N. B., & Rahbek, C. (2016) · Frontiers of Biogeography · doi:10.21425/f58321748 · Cited by 5
Biodiversity–stability relationships strengthen over time in a long-term grassland experimentPreprint
Wagg, C., Roscher, C., Weigelt, A., Vogel, A., Ebeling, A., Luca, E. D., Roeder, A., Kleinspehn, C., Temperton, V. M., Marquard, E., et al. (2022) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-1824129/v1 · Cited by 6
Gomes, J. D. O., & Izar, P. (2023) · American Journal of Primatology · doi:10.1002/ajp.23533 · Cited by 5
Ma, Y., Liu, P., Li, Z., Yue, Y., Zhao, Y., He, J., Zhao, J., Song, X., Wang, J., Liu, Q., et al. (2024) · BMC Genomics · doi:10.1186/s12864-024-10171-y · Cited by 5
“Civi-tello et al [83]. provided broad evidence that host diversity inhibits parasite abundance using a meta-analysis, indicating that biodiversity loss could increase human and wild diseases.”
Approaches and methods to study wildlife cancer
Giraudeau, M., Vincze, O., Dupont, S. M., Sepp, T., Baines, C., Lemaître, J., Lemberger, K. Y., Gentès, S., Boddy, A. M., Dujon, A. M., et al. (2024) · Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2656.14144 · Cited by 6
“Pollution-induced oncogenesis could also amplify these transfers if it concomitantly promotes a decline in biodiversity, hence reducing the protection conferred by the dilution effect (Civitello et al., 2015).”
Louvard, C., Hadfield, K. A., Vanhove, M. P. M., Sures, B., & Smit, N. J. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-83903-0_7 · Cited by 6
Biodiversity conservation depends on the expansion of taxonomy and systematics research
Ruedas, L. A., & Gardner, S. L. (2025) · Journal of Mammalogy · doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyaf067 · Cited by 8
“…2020) has resulted in outcomes jointly beneficial both to humans and wildlife (Mackenzie and Jeggo 2019; Földvári et al. 2024) and has demonstrated that biodiversity and human health are inextricably linked (Dizney and Ruedas 2009; Kees-ing et al. 2010; Civitello et al. 2015; Bartlow et al. 2021).”
Tick-Borne Diseases in Urban and Periurban Areas: A Blind Spot in Research and Public Health
Diuk‐Wasser, M. A., Fernandez, P., & Vanwambeke, S. (2025) · Annual Review of Entomology · doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-121423-013702 · Cited by 7
Chen, L., & Liu, Y. (2025) · Forest Ecology and Management · doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123471 · Cited by 5
Prevalence of major pests and diseases in wild and cultivated coffee in Ethiopia
Beche, D., Tack, A. J. M., Nemomissa, S., Lemessa, D., Warkineh, B., & Hylander, K. (2023) · Basic and Applied Ecology · doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.06.005 · Cited by 6
Emer, C., Villar, N., Melo, N., Zipparro, V. B., Nazareth, S., & Galetti, M. (2024) · Journal of Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2745.14273 · Cited by 5
“We explored whether the effects of large herbivores on leaf damage could be at least partially mediated by their impact on the capacity of plant communities to dilute attacks from natural enemies (Civitello et al., 2015 ; Halliday et al., 2020 ).”
BackgroundSusi, H. (2024) · Evolutionary Applications · doi:10.1111/eva.13672 · Cited by 5
“Such a dilution effect has often been observed in plant communities (Civitello et al., 2015), but environmental variation may change this effect (Liu et al., 2020).”
BackgroundImpacts of invasion on a freshwater cleaning symbiosis
Bell, S. S., McElmurray, P., Creed, R. P., & Brown, B. L. (2024) · Oecologia · doi:10.1007/s00442-024-05600-4 · Cited by 6
“With increasing host diversity, parasites are more likely to encounter non-competent hosts when they disperse, with the result that parasite prevalence in suitable, target hosts should be lower in a more diverse host community (Civitello et al. 2015).”
BackgroundInfluentialZhang, C., Gu, H., Peng, J. G., He, B., Liu, Y., Yan, X., Feng, J., & Liu, Y. (2025) · Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2025.108343 · Cited by 6
Metrics for biodiversity and health policy integration
Nogués‐Bravo, D., Whitmee, S., & Willetts, L. (2025) · PLOS Global Public Health · doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0004624 · Cited by 5
Prescriptive Training Courseware: IS-Design Methodology
McKay, E. (2018) · AJIS. Australasian journal of information systems/AJIS. Australian journal of information systems/Australian journal of information systems · doi:10.3127/ajis.v22i0.1675 · Cited by 5
“The principal findings of the example research study showed that changes in knowledge outcomes on introductory ethics achieved a substantial magnitude of effect (Civitello et al. 2015);(Cohen 1977), across the three training treatments.”
BackgroundResultDoherty, J., & Poulin, R. (2021) · International Journal for Parasitology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2021.11.009 · Cited by 5
“…the spread of parasites or disease is the dilution effect, through which an increase in species diversity in a given environment can reduce the risk of infection through mechanisms such as within-species transmission and density-dependent transmission (Keesing et al., 2006; Civitello et al., 2015).”
BackgroundChen, S., Liu, X., He, Q., & Zhou, S. (2022) · Ecological Modelling · doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110156 · Cited by 5
Rivera, C. L., Padilla, J. F., Ospina-Pérez, E. M., Urbano, F. M., Velásquez-Guarín, D., Mejía-Fontecha, I. Y., Ossa‐López, P. A., Rivera‐Páez, F. A., & Ramirez-Chaves, H. E. (2023) · Acta Chiropterologica · doi:10.3161/15081109acc2022.24.2.008 · Cited by 5
“…flies, since very diverse host communities can inhibit the abundance and spread of parasites through several mechanisms, such as the regulation of populations of susceptible hosts or parasite transmission interference (dilution effect — Schmidt and Ostfeld, 2001; Civitello et al., 2015).”
BackgroundVarian, C. P., Saldaña, A., Calzada, J. E., Abad‐Franch, F., Kieran, T. J., Padukone, A., Peterson, J. K., & Gottdenker, N. L. (2023) · Ecosphere · doi:10.1002/ecs2.4347 · Cited by 6
Genomic properties of potyviruses and their adaptation to hosts
Rai, R., Khurana, S. M. P., Sharma, S. K., & Baranwal, V. K. (2023) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-95339-9.00019-3 · Cited by 6
González-Morales, J. C., Rivera-Rea, J., Suárez-Varón, G., Bastiaans, E., & Zarza, H. (2024) · Integrative Zoology · doi:10.1111/1749-4877.12908 · Cited by 5
“Additionally, the absence of intermediate hosts in the life cycle of parasites could further diminish the likelihood of infecting urban lizards (Civitello et al. 2015).”
Biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships on bodies and in buildings
Dunn, R. R., Reese, A. T., & Eisenhauer, N. (2018) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0750-9 · Cited by 5
Threatened Hosts, Threatened Parasites?
Frías, L., & MacIntosh, A. J. J. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316662021.009 · Cited by 5
How epidemiological patterns shift across populations in an exotic lizard
Bezerra, C. H., Pinheiro, L. T., Melo, G. C., Braga, R. D. R., dos Anjos, L. A., & Borges‐Nojosa, D. M. (2019) · Journal of Helminthology · doi:10.1017/s0022149x19000907 · Cited by 5
Junior, D. P. L., Bellay, S., Hoeinghaus, D. J., Bini, L. M., Lima, L. B., Yotoko, K. S. C., & Agostinho, Â. A. (2021) · Hydrobiologia · doi:10.1007/s10750-020-04509-2 · Cited by 5
The Relationship between Vector Species Richness and the Risk of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases
Takimoto, G., Shirakawa, H., & Sato, T. (2022) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/720403 · Cited by 5
“This recognition has motivated studies that investigated the effects of host diversity on disease risk and their meta-analytic reviews (Civitello et al. 2015; Halliday and Rohr 2019).”
BackgroundMori, K., Massolo, A., Marceau, D. J., & Stefanakis, E. (2022) · Ecological Modelling · doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110177 · Cited by 5
Strasburg, M., & Boone, M. D. (2022) · Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1002/ece3.9512 · Cited by 5
INSECT RICHNESS IN DUNG PATCHES OF CATTLE RAISED IN TWO LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS
Gusmão, M. R., Oliveira, M. C. D. S., Nicodemo, M. L. F., & Pezzopane, J. R. M. (2020) · REVISTA DE AGRICULTURA NEOTROPICAL · doi:10.32404/rean.v7i1.4033 · Cited by 5
Camargo, P. R. D. S., da Silva, R. G., Barbosa, N. P. U., Cardoso, A. V., Assis, P. S., & Pelli, A. (2022) · Research Society and Development · doi:10.33448/rsd-v11i7.30214 · Cited by 6
The wild life of tick-borne pathogens
Hofmeester, T. R. (2016) · doi:10.18174/393112 · Cited by 7
Impact of global change on future Ebola emergence and epidemic potential in AfricaPreprint
Redding, D. W., Atkinson, P. M., Cunningham, A. A., Iacono, G. L., Moses, L., Wood, J. L. N., & Jones, K. E. (2017) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/206169 · Cited by 5
“Emerging Infectious Diseases 653 11(2):283.”
BackgroundBoúúaert, D. C., Smet, L. D., Brunain, M., Dahle, B., Blacquière, T., Dalmon, A., Dezmirean, D. S., Elen, D., Filipi, J., Giurgiu, A.-I., et al. (2022) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2022.03.25.485775 · Cited by 5
Idiosyncratic spatial scaling of biodiversity–disease relationships
Gilbert, N. A., DiRenzo, G. V., & Zipkin, E. F. (2025) · Ecography · doi:10.1111/ecog.07541 · Cited by 4
Reappraisal of the Dilution and Amplification Effect Framework: A Case Study in Lyme Disease
Chen, S., & McFarlane, S. E. (2025) · Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1002/ece3.71969 · Cited by 6
“A different meta-analysis concluded a strong net dilution effect across multiple disease systems but acknowledged the inability of their meta-analysis to test these mechanisms (Civitello et al. 2015).”
InfluentialMatthews, K. E., Breed, M. F., Stirling, E., Macdonald, L. M., & Cavagnaro, T. R. (2025) · Applied Soil Ecology · doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106470 · Cited by 4
Biodiversity, Infectious Diseases, and the Dilution Effect
Stefano Bosi, Y., & Desmarchelier, D. (2020) · Environmental Modeling & Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10666-020-09688-9 · Cited by 4
“Setting the Hamiltonian H = e−θtu (c,B)+λ [(r − δ)h+ ω̄ − c], deriving the first-order conditions ∂H/∂c = 0, ∂H/∂h = −λ̇ and ∂H/∂μ = ḣ, and defining μ ≡ λe, we get (8), (9) and (10).”
Influence of colony traits on ectoparasite infestation in birds breeding in mixed-species colonies
Gameiro, J., Veiga, J., Valera, F., Palmeirim, J. M., & Catry, I. (2021) · Parasitology · doi:10.1017/s0031182021000470 · Cited by 4
“High host diversity could decrease infestation risk through dilution effects, as different host species may be differently susceptible and/or competent to different parasite species, but this effect may not always occur and likely depends on specific community compositions (Keesing et al., 2006; Randolph and Dobson, 2…”
BackgroundCOVID-19: a wake-up call to protect planetary health
Pachauri, A., Sevilla, N. P. M., Kedia, S., Pathak, D., Mittal, K., & Philo Magdalene, A. (2021) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-85512-9.00017-6 · Cited by 5
Halle, S., Garrido, M., Noy, K., Messika, I., Kedem, H., Cohen, C., Ytzhak, K., Siegal, Z., Shenbrot, G. I., Abramsky, Z., et al. (2021) · Global Ecology and Biogeography · doi:10.1111/geb.13423 · Cited by 4
Prevalence of Fox Tapeworm in Invasive Muskrats in Flanders (North Belgium)
Cartuyvels, E., Adriaens, T., Baert, K., Huysentruyt, F., & Berge, K. V. D. (2022) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani12070879 · Cited by 4
“or dilution, where more diverse host communities inhibit the spread of parasites [4].”
BackgroundKozanitas, M., Knaus, B. J., Tabima, J. F., Grünwald, N. J., & Garbelotto, M. M. (2024) · Ecography · doi:10.1111/ecog.07012 · Cited by 5
“Differences in the epidemiological role of different hosts have been shown to modify not only the course of animal and human diseases (Civitello et al. 2015), but also the structure and composition of host populations (Johnson et al. 2008) and the evolutionary trajectories of pathogens themselves…”
BackgroundMolento, M. B., Dall’Anese, J., Pontarolo, D. V., Brandão, Y. D. O., & Yoshitani, Ú. Y. (2024) · Revista Brasileira de Parasitologia Veterinária/Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Parasitology · doi:10.1590/s1984-29612024043 · Cited by 4
Alves, M. H., Mendoza‐Roldan, J. A., Alfaro-Segura, P., Carbonara, M., Gómez, A., Leitón, N. M., Arias-Ortega, J., Solano-Barquero, A., Rojas, A., & Otranto, D. (2025) · International Journal for Parasitology Parasites and Wildlife · doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2025.101090 · Cited by 4
“Indeed, as a megadiverse country (Mittermeier et al., 1997), Costa Rica ’ s host diversity may suppress parasite spread through mechanisms, like regulating susceptible host populations or reducing transmission (Civitello et al., 2015).”
Zitoun, J.-L., Rousseau, R., & Gourbière, S. (2025) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2025.0283 · Cited by 3
Lesser snow goose helminths show recurring and positive parasite infection-diversity relations
Dargent, F., Morrill, A., Alisauskas, R. T., McLaughlin, J., Dave Shutler, A., & Forbes, M. R. (2017) · International Journal for Parasitology Parasites and Wildlife · doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2017.01.003 · Cited by 4
“…infection-diversity relations have neglected to investigate the effects of parasite diversity on infection dynamics (see supplementary materials in Civitello et al., 2015; Johnson et al., 2015), despite evidence for the role of parasites in modifying infection outcomes (e.g. Ezenwa et al., 2010;…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialDuffy, J. E. (2019) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0784-z · Cited by 4
Ahn, S., & Goater, C. P. (2021) · Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1002/ece3.7823 · Cited by 4
“…pairwise comparisons between heterospecific combinations and monospecific combinations involving fathead minnows at the same total fish density (i.e., 4FHMN treatment versus 2FHMN + 2LNDC) host species richness resulted in decreased rates of parasite infection (reviewed in Civitello et al., 2015).”
BackgroundSaúde e conservação dos animais silvestres na natureza
de Macedo, G. C., Herrera, H. M., Jansen, A. M., de Oliveira, C. E., Rocha, F. L., & Porfírio, G. E. D. O. (2022) · Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi - Ciências Naturais · doi:10.46357/bcnaturais.v16i3.806 · Cited by 4
Demography, education, and research trends in the interdisciplinary field of disease ecology
Brandell, E. E., Becker, D. J., Sampson, L., & Forbes, K. M. (2021) · Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1002/ece3.8466 · Cited by 4
“In particular, the frequency of published research on the dilution effect has undergone several spikes following key findings (Civitello et al., 2015; Keesing, Holt, & Ostfeld, 2006) and a steady increase in publication rate.”
BackgroundEthics, zoonoses, and human-nonhuman conflict: Covid-19 and beyond
Humphreys, R., Chakraborty, R., & Varghese, N. (2022) · Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics · doi:10.3354/esep00203 · Cited by 4
Vector species richness predicts local mortality rates from Chagas disease
da Silva, G. G., Lopez, V. M., Vilarinho, A. C., DATTO-LIBERATO, F. H., Oliveira, C. J. F., Poulin, R., & Ferreira, R. G. N. (2023) · International Journal for Parasitology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2023.10.002 · Cited by 4
“Two competing hypotheses, the DEH and the AEH, make contrasting predictions regarding the role of local diversity as a determinant of transmission rates (Keesing et al., 2006, 2010; Ostfeld and Keesing, 2012; Civitello et al., 2015).”
InfluentialChoo, J., Nghiem, L. T. P., Benítez‐López, A., & Carrasco, L. R. (2023) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-023-47448-3 · Cited by 5
Larson, M. D., Levri, E. P., Huzurbazar, S. V., Greenwood, D. J., Wise, K. L., & Krist, A. C. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0239762 · Cited by 4
“Our results also contrast with a recent meta-analysis of dilution effect experiments showing that increased host diversity decreased the abundance of parasites across a wide range of parasite types, life cycles, and functional groups [16].”
BackgroundResultCappelli, S. L., Domeignoz‐Horta, L. A., Loaiza, V., & Laine, A. (2021) · doi:10.32942/osf.io/tm5eh · Cited by 4
Global change drivers and the risk of infectious diseasePreprint
Mahon, M. B., Sack, A., Aleuy, O. A., Barbera, C., Brown, E., Buelow, H. N., Civitello, D. J., Cohen, J. M., de Wit, L., Forstchen, M., et al. (2022) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2022.07.21.501013 · Cited by 4
“For example, several studies have demonstrated that infectious disease risk is modified by changes to biodiversity (2-5), climate change (6-9), and chemical pollution (10-12).”
BackgroundResultSelf-citation
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
About these checks
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.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
