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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday April 09 2020, @08:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-speak-for-the-trees dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Viruses that jump from animals to people, like the one responsible for COVID-19, will likely become more common as people continue to transform natural habitats into agricultural land, according to a new Stanford study.

The analysis, published in Landscape Ecology, reveals how the loss of tropical forests in Uganda puts people at greater risk of physical interactions with wild primates and the viruses they carry. The findings have implications for the emergence and spread of infectious animal-to-human diseases in other parts of the world, and suggest potential solutions for curbing the trend.

[...] Unlike previous studies that examined the issue from primarily an ecological standpoint, the Stanford study is the first to integrate landscape-level ecological factors with individual-level behavioral factors and weigh risks to human health.

[...] The researchers were surprised to find some of their assumptions turned upside down. For example, small fragments of residual forest—not larger expanses of habitat—were most likely to be the site of human-wild primate contacts due to their shared borders with agricultural landscapes.

Similarly, the researchers speculate that increasing intrusion of agriculture into forests and resulting human activities in these areas could lead to more spillover of infections from wild primates to humans worldwide.

The researchers suggest that relatively small buffer zones, such as tree farms or reforestation projects, around biodiversity-rich forests could dramatically lessen the likelihood of human-wild primate interaction. Using external resources, such as national or international aid, to provide fuel and construction material or monetary supplements could also reduce pressure on people to seek out wood in forested areas.

"At the end of the day, land conservation and the reduction of forest fragmentation is our best bet to reduce human-wild animal interactions," said study coauthor Tyler McIntosh, a former graduate student in the Stanford Earth Systems Program now working at the Center for Western Priorities.

More information: Laura S. P. Bloomfield et al, Habitat fragmentation, livelihood behaviors, and contact between people and nonhuman primates in Africa, Landscape Ecology (2020). DOI: 10.1007/s10980-020-00995-w


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday April 09 2020, @10:44AM

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Thursday April 09 2020, @10:44AM (#980539)

    the loss of tropical forests in Uganda puts people at greater risk of physical interactions with wild primates and the viruses they carry.

    Even in a forest of reduced sized, the animals that live there tend to stay clear away from human beings. And even if they do encroach on human space because they can't find enough food in what remains of their natural habitat, they usually try to avoid us.

    The problem comes mainly from people who go into the forest to hunt wild animals and eat them - including primates. I've read countless times that new epidemics originating from Africa can be traced back to some guy who ate bush meat. Stop that and it'll go a long way towards keeping nasty viruses hidden in the sticks where they belong.

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