Biological invasions facilitate zoonotic disease emergences

Lin Zhang, Jason Rohr, Ruina Cui, Yusi Xin, Lixia Han, Xiaona Yang, Shimin Gu, Yuanbao Du, Jing Liang, Xuyu Wang, Zhengjun Wu, Qin Hao () and Xuan Liu ()
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Lin Zhang: Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jason Rohr: Environmental Change Initiative, University of Notre Dame
Ruina Cui: Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yusi Xin: School of Landscape and Architecture, Beijing Forestry University
Lixia Han: Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University), Ministry of Education
Xiaona Yang: Daxing Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Shimin Gu: Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yuanbao Du: Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jing Liang: College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University
Xuyu Wang: Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhengjun Wu: Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University), Ministry of Education
Qin Hao: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Xuan Liu: Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Outbreaks of zoonotic diseases are accelerating at an unprecedented rate in the current era of globalization, with substantial impacts on the global economy, public health, and sustainability. Alien species invasions have been hypothesized to be important to zoonotic diseases by introducing both existing and novel pathogens to invaded ranges. However, few studies have evaluated the generality of alien species facilitating zoonoses across multiple host and parasite taxa worldwide. Here, we simultaneously quantify the role of 795 established alien hosts on the 10,473 zoonosis events across the globe since the 14th century. We observe an average of ~5.9 zoonoses per alien zoonotic host. After accounting for species-, disease-, and geographic-level sampling biases, spatial autocorrelation, and the lack of independence of zoonosis events, we find that the number of zoonosis events increase with the richness of alien zoonotic hosts, both across space and through time. We also detect positive associations between the number of zoonosis events per unit space and climate change, land-use change, biodiversity loss, human population density, and PubMed citations. These findings suggest that alien host introductions have likely contributed to zoonosis emergences throughout recent history and that minimizing future zoonotic host species introductions could have global health benefits.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29378-2

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