Outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases are occurring with increasing frequency and consequences, including wildlife diseases and zoonoses. Those have potentially long-lasting effects on human and ...wildlife populations, with inevitable direct and indirect effects on ecosystems. The intensifying emergence of infectious pathogens has many underlying reasons, all driven by the growing anthropogenic impact on nature. Intensifying pathogen emergence can be attributed to climate change, biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, and an increasing rate of wildlife–human contacts. All of these are caused by synergies between persisting intense poverty and a growing human population. Improved global management of the human-driven biological degradation and international dispersal processes that exacerbate those pandemic threats are now long overdue. It is vital that we act decisively in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis to radically change how we collectively manage the planet as a whole.
Microorganisms are increasingly recognized as ecosystem-relevant components because they affect the population dynamics of hosts. Functioning at the interface of the host and pathogen, skin and gut ...microbiomes are vital components of immunity. Recent work reveals a strong influence of biotic and abiotic environmental factors (including the environmental microbiome) on disease dynamics, yet the importance of the host–host microbiome–pathogen–environment interaction has been poorly reflected in theory. We use amphibians and the disease chytridiomycosis caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis to show how interactions between host, host microbiome, pathogen, and the environment all affect disease outcome. Our review provides new perspectives that improve our understanding of disease dynamics and ecology by incorporating environmental factors and microbiomes into disease theory.
In many cases, interactions among host, pathogen, and environment are insufficient to describe disease dynamics in the wild.The host microbiome plays an important role in host immunity, at the interface between the host and the pathogen, and affects disease outcome.The environment, as well as environmental microbiomes, influence the host microbiome, and also influence simultaneously the host and the pathogen.The three-edged disease triangle needs to become a four-edged disease pyramid to study interactions among host, host microbiome, pathogen, and environment.
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) held its tenth plenary session at Bonn, Germany. in July 2023. The key feature of this plenary was the ...Thematic Assessment of Invasive Alien Species, the discussion of which was marked by extensive wordsmithing. The summary for policy makers was accepted, but it took until the last minute. The two scoping reports for the upcoming assessment of biodiversity monitoring and ecological connectivity were accepted, allowing preparation of the work on these assessments to begin. We noted a missing balance between robust scientific knowledge and political and economic interest and see these tedious discussions as counterproductive to resolving biodiversity loss. The current fad for nature-positive rhetoric is not useful in resolving these dilemmas. Getting the balance right will be a real test as to whether IPBES is really helping solve problems, or if it is simply performance art.
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) held its ninth plenary session in hybrid form at Bonn, Germany in July 2022. The plenary had a packed ...agenda with assessments on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species and Values of Biodiversity to consider, as well as discuss a “Nature Future Framework” and a scoping document for business and biodiversity. Here, we present key issues that emerged from the plenary and suggest some matters Platform members need to consider for the future.
The Transformative Change Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) will examine how better biodiversity conservation and sustainable ...use, ecosystem service delivery and restoration can be achieved, considering the totality of the socio-ecological system. In this regard, it is also important to understand and identify factors in human society at both the individual and collective levels, e.g., the tragedy of the commons exemplifies how individual self-interest can act against the common good of all. The assessment will then examine the drivers and activities that may be leveraged to bring about transformative change in a growing human population. In this Special Issue on transformative change, nine articles give an insight into the multifaceted challenge transformative change poses to policy makers and decision takers and with that to humanity.
Global change effects on biodiversity and human wellbeing call for improved long-term environmental data as a basis for science, policy and decision making, including increased interoperability, ...multifunctionality, and harmonization. Based on the example of two global initiatives, the International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network and the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), we propose merging the frameworks behind these initiatives, namely ecosystem integrity and essential biodiversity variables, to serve as an improved guideline for future site-based long-term research and monitoring in terrestrial, freshwater and coastal ecosystems. We derive a list of specific recommendations of what and how to measure at a monitoring site and call for an integration of sites into co-located site networks across individual monitoring initiatives, and centered on ecosystems. This facilitates the generation of linked comprehensive ecosystem monitoring data, supports synergies in the use of costly infrastructures, fosters cross-initiative research and provides a template for collaboration beyond the ILTER and GEO BON communities.
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•Monitoring changes in biodiversity requires improved standards and frameworks.•We link the Ecosystem Integrity and Essential Biodiversity Variables frameworks.•We make recommendations for long-term monitoring variables and instrumentation.•Site-based long-term monitoring data will become more broadly applicable.•Co-located monitoring site networks will enable covering all recommended variables.
Biofilms are matrix‐enclosed communities that represent the most dominant and active mode of microbial life on Earth. Because biofilms are inherently more productive than any equivalent planktonic ...community, they are of great relevance to all environments they inhabit. However, their existence and importance are still poorly known by the general public, conservation practitioners and environmental policymakers.
Most micro‐organisms of multicellular organisms (including humans, animals and plants) occur in the form of true biofilms or biofilm‐like structures that play vital roles in their development, physiology and immunity. Conversely, some biofilms can have a negative effect on host health.
Biofilms growing on non‐biological surfaces are essential components of many terrestrial and marine ecosystems: they form the basis of food webs and ensure nutrient cycling and bioremediation in natural systems. However, environmental biofilms can promote the persistence of human pathogens, produce harmful toxins, foul and corrode surfaces in natural and man‐made settings; all of which can have significant health and economic implications.
There is a knowledge gap about the roles of biofilms in the epidemiology of wildlife emerging infectious diseases, yet these pose a major threat to public health, biodiversity and sustainability. The drivers of global environmental change all affect biofilm structure and functions. The consequences for host and ecosystem health are, however, poorly understood. While the concept of a healthy microbiome (as opposed to dysbiosis) is emerging in medicine and conservation biology, the concept of a healthy biofilm remains to be defined in environmental sciences.
Here, we use an integrative approach to (a) review current knowledge on the roles of biofilms growing on biological and non‐biological interfaces for the health of multicellular organisms and ecosystems, and (b) provide future research directions to address identified knowledge gaps. Giving the biofilm life‐form its full importance will help understand the effects of global environmental change on these communities and, in turn, on human, animal, plant and ecosystem health.
Résumé
Les biofilms sont des communautés d'organismes évoluant dans une matrice extracellulaire gélatineuse. Ils représentent le mode de vie microbien dominant sur Terre. Parce que les biofilms sont très productifs, ils sont d'une grande importance pour chaque environnement qu'ils habitent, que ce soit un être vivant ou un écosystème. Cependant, leur existence et leur importance sont encore mal connues du grand public et des responsables de la politique environnementale.
La plupart des microbiotes des organismes multicellulaires (y compris ceux des humains, des animaux et des plantes) se présentent sous la forme de biofilms au sens strict (matrice produite par les habitants du biofilm) ou au sens large (mucosome, matrice produite par l'hôte) qui jouent des rôles vitaux dans leur développement, leur physiologie et leur immunité. A l'inverse, certains biofilms peuvent avoir un effet négatif sur la santé des hôtes multicellulaires.
Les biofilms se développant sur des surfaces non biologiques (roches immergées, par exemple) sont eux aussi des composants essentiels de leurs écosystèmes : ils constituent la base des réseaux alimentaires et assurent le cycle des nutriments. En revanche, les biofilms environnementaux peuvent jouer des rôles plus négatifs ayant des répercussions importantes sur la santé et l'économie.
Plusieurs zones d'ombres persistent. Les connaissances sur le rôle des biofilms dans l'épidémiologie des maladies infectieuses émergentes de la faune et de la flore sont insuffisantes. Bien que les différentes forces motrices du changement environnemental global affectent toutes la structure et les fonctions des biofilms, on ne comprend pas encore dans quelles mesures cela peut affecter la santé des hôtes multicellulaires et des écosystèmes. Alors que le concept d'un microbiome sain (par opposition à une dysbiose) émerge en médecine et en biologie de la conservation, le concept d'un biofilm sain reste à définir dans les sciences environnementales.
Ici, nous utilisons une approche intégrative pour (i) passer en revue les connaissances sur les rôles des biofilms pour la santé des organismes multicellulaires et celle des écosystèmes, et (ii) fournir des orientations de recherche futures pour combler les lacunes identifiées. Accorder toute son importance à la forme de vie qu'est le biofilm aidera à comprendre les effets du changement environnemental global sur ces communautés et, en retour, sur la santé des humains, des animaux, des plantes et des écosystèmes.
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Mountain catchments provide for the livelihood of more than half of humankind, and have become a key destination for tourist and recreation activities globally. Mountain ecosystems are generally ...considered to be less complex and less species diverse due to the harsh environmental conditions. As such, they are also more sensitive to the various impacts of the Anthropocene. For this reason, mountain regions may serve as sentinels of change and provide ideal ecosystems for studying climate and global change impacts on biodiversity. We here review different facets of anthropogenic impacts on mountain freshwater ecosystems. We put particular focus on micropollutants and their distribution and redistribution due to hydrological extremes, their direct influence on water quality and their indirect influence on ecosystem health via changes of freshwater species and their interactions. We show that those changes may drive pathogen establishment in new environments with harmful consequences for freshwater species, but also for the human population. Based on the reviewed literature, we recommend reconstructing the recent past of anthropogenic impact through sediment analyses, to focus efforts on small, but highly productive waterbodies, and to collect data on the occurrence and variability of microorganisms, biofilms, plankton species and key species, such as amphibians due to their bioindicator value for ecosystem health and water quality. The newly gained knowledge can then be used to develop a comprehensive framework of indicators to robustly inform policy and decision making on current and future risks for ecosystem health and human well-being.
Interactions between the abiotic and biotic environment impact on human well-being in mountain freshwater ecosystems. Display omitted
•Mountain freshwater ecosystems are sensitive to global change.•Microbiome composition indicates water quality.•Dynamics of plankton reflects ecosystem health.•Loss of ecosystem services•Risks for human society through increased pathogen pressure
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services held its 8th plenary session online in June 2021, during which a new budget was approved up to 2023, continuing ...work plans were agreed, and scoping documents for two new assessments, the nexus and transformative change assessments, were accepted.
Research on emerging infectious wildlife diseases has placed particular emphasis on host-derived barriers to infection and disease. This focus neglects important extrinsic determinants of the ...host/pathogen dynamic, where all barriers to infection should be considered when ascertaining the determinants of infectivity and pathogenicity of wildlife pathogens 1–3. Those pathogens with free-living stages, such as fungi causing catastrophic wildlife declines on a global scale 4, must confront lengthy exposure to environmental barriers before contact with an uninfected host 5–8. Hostile environmental conditions therefore have the ability to decrease the density of infectious particles, reducing the force of infection and ameliorating the impact as well as the probability of establishing an infection 9. Here we show that, in nature, the risk of infection and infectious burden of amphibians infected by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) have a significant, site-specific component, and that these correlate with the microfauna present at a site. Experimental infections show that aquatic microfauna can rapidly lower the abundance and density of infectious stages by consuming Bd zoospores, resulting in a significantly reduced probability of infection in anuran tadpoles. Our findings offer new perspectives for explaining the divergent impacts of Bd infection in amphibian assemblages and contribute to our understanding of ecosystem resilience to colonization by novel pathogens.
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•Microorganism counts correlate inversely with B. dendrobatidis prevalence in nature•Rotifers and ciliates ingest zoospores of B. dendrobatidis•Infection rates of anuran tadpoles are reduced in the presence of aquatic microfauna•Bd-consuming microorganisms hold promise as a biocontrol and field mitigation tool
Schmeller et al. show that the death of amphibians exposed to a lethal and globally distributed fungal pathogen is being prevented at some locations by microscopic predators. These aquatic microorganisms either block or weaken infections by consuming the fungal spores that infect amphibians and cause the disease chytridiomycosis.
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