In June 2020, Mammal Review published a paper entitled “Emerging zoonotic diseases originating in mammals: a systematic review of effects of anthropogenic land-use change”, focusing on how various anthropogenic land-use changes (LUC) such as deforestation, urbanization, and agricultural intensification facilitate the transmission of zoonotic diseases from mammals to humans.

The paper systematically reviewed the studies on zoonotic diseases and anthropogenic LUC involving the pathogens and the most prominent mammalian sources such as rodents, livestock, carnivores, non-human primates and bats. As the spread of zoonotic diseases from animals to humans is related to agricultural intensification in several ways, changes in the habitat of host mammals also alter their behaviors, impacting the pathogens they carry and the probability of disease spreading to humans. 

The paper concluded that the recent COVID‐19 pandemic highlights the urgent need to understand how anthropogenic LUC affects the risk of spillover to humans and spread of zoonotic diseases originating in mammals.

The article is available at:

White, R.J. and Razgour, O. (2020) Emerging zoonotic diseases originating in mammals: a systematic review of effects of anthropogenic land‐use change. Mammal Review https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mam.12201

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki (Research Strategy Office)