Algonquin to Adirondacks Collaborative

Updates and Events

  • Home
    • What Is A2A?
    • Recent News
  • About
    • Connectivity
    • Alice the Moose
    • Board & Staff
    • FAQs
    • Awards
  • Landscape
    • Wildlife
    • Protected Areas
  • Our Work
    • A2A Trail >
      • The A2A Trail Guide
      • A2A Trek 2023
    • Conservation Action Planning
    • Mapping
    • Road Ecology >
      • Right to Roam
      • Road Mitigation Project in UCLG
    • Science Symposium
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Trail Champion
    • Join A2A
    • Volunteer
    • Careers
    • Gala 2023
    • Contact Us
  • Donate
    • Legacy Giving
  • Resources
    • Publications
    • For Landowners
    • Annual Reports
  • Partners
  • Media
    • Newsroom
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Blog

1/7/2013

Study: As Biodiversity Declines, Tropical Diseases Thrive (NPR)

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Read the full text on NPR.org.

Global health advocates often argue that the tropical diseases that plague many countries, such as malaria and dengue, can be conquered simply with more money for health care – namely medicines and vaccines.

But a new paper is a reminder that ecology also has a pretty big say in whether pathogens thrive or die off. Using a statistical model, researchers predicted that countries that lose biodiversity will have a heavier burden of vector-borne and parasitic diseases. Their results appear this week in PLoS Biology.

"The general logic is that the more organisms you have out there, the more things there are that can interrupt the life cycle of disease, and the less concentration you'll have of any vector," says Matthew Bonds, a researcher at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the paper.

But plants, mammals and birds are disappearing fast – one-third of the world's species are now threatened with extinction, according to the United Nations. And when the creatures that prey on mice, mosquitoes or other vectors of disease go, parasites and other disease-causing agents discover it's a lot easier to survive.

Scientists have already shown that's one reason for the explosion of Lyme disease in the Northeast United States. A 2002 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that if you have a rich community of tick hosts, like squirrels, mice and other small mammals, the disease is diluted among them. But if the habitat is degraded, and ticks carrying Lyme have only white-footed mice as hosts, the disease risk to humans can rise dramatically.

Learn more about the A2A region and its wildlife, and support our efforts to protect A2A biodiversity.

Share

0 Comments
Details
    Picture
    See Our Work

    Archives

    May 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    February 2018
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

© 2025 Algonquin to Adirondacks Collaborative
A2A is a 149(1)(f) registered Canadian charity | BN: 86307 1668 RR0001 | and a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in the U.S. | IRS #86-1358996 |
Become a Member | Maps & Region |  FAQs | Donate Online | Contact Us
  • Home
    • What Is A2A?
    • Recent News
  • About
    • Connectivity
    • Alice the Moose
    • Board & Staff
    • FAQs
    • Awards
  • Landscape
    • Wildlife
    • Protected Areas
  • Our Work
    • A2A Trail >
      • The A2A Trail Guide
      • A2A Trek 2023
    • Conservation Action Planning
    • Mapping
    • Road Ecology >
      • Right to Roam
      • Road Mitigation Project in UCLG
    • Science Symposium
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Trail Champion
    • Join A2A
    • Volunteer
    • Careers
    • Gala 2023
    • Contact Us
  • Donate
    • Legacy Giving
  • Resources
    • Publications
    • For Landowners
    • Annual Reports
  • Partners
  • Media
    • Newsroom
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Blog