Conventional wisdom among ecologists holds that the more species there are inhabiting an ecosystem, the less vulnerable any one species will be to a threat like a parasite. A new study of tadpoles illustrates how overlapping biological and environmental factors can complicate how we value protecting diverse animal communities. The researchers found that environmental pollutants like road salt influence whether increased biodiversity helps or hinders disease outbreaks in wildlife, which can complicate how we value protecting diverse animal communities.
Conventional wisdom among ecologists holds that the more species there are inhabiting an ecosystem, the less vulnerable any one species will be to a threat like a parasite. A new study of tadpoles at the University of Wisconsin-Madison illustrates how overlapping biological and environmental factors can complicate how we value protecting diverse animal communities.
Ecologists believe that in a biodiverse ecosystem, vulnerability to disease is shared across many species. One species could act as a decoy, drawing the attention and energy of parasites away from more susceptible neighbors and protecting the vulnerable by reducing the growth, reproduction and spread of parasites.
Studies of biodiversity's sway on disease have produced mixed results. Sometimes, communities with higher biodiversity do have lower levels of disease, called a dilution effect. Other times, communities with higher biodiversity have higher levels of disease, called an amplification effect. And sometimes, there's no effect at all. In the field of disease ecology, the varying outcomes have generated intense debates over biodiversity's relationship with disease.
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