Biodiversity Reduces Human, Wildlife Diseases And Crop Pests

With infectious diseases increasing worldwide, the need to understand how and why disease outbreaks occur is becoming increasingly important. Looking for answers, a team of biologists found broad evidence that supports the controversial 'dilution effect hypothesis,' which suggests that biodiversity limits outbreaks of disease among humans and wildlife.  "The dilution effect hypothesis is important because it warns that human-mediated biodiversity losses can exacerbate disease outbreaks, yet it has been contentiously debated," said study lead author Dr. David Civitello, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Integrative Biology at University of South Florida.  read more

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