WILD HEALTH: How does environmental biodiversity affect wildlife health? (Watts)
Main funder
Funder's project number: 329334
Funds granted by main funder (€)
- 138 287,00
Funding program
Project timetable
Project start date: 01/05/2019
Project end date: 28/02/2022
Summary
Biodiversity has a multifunctional role in maintaining ecosystem services. Biodiversity has been hypothesized to positively impact human health via a co-association with the host’s microbiome but it is unknown whether it confers comparable benefits to wildlife. We will test the biodiversity hypothesis in bank voles and moose inhabiting forests that experience contrasting human impacts and biodiversity by combining molecular biology, bioinformatics, community ecology, and field experiments. We quantify whether environmental disturbance reflects to biodiversity, host microbiome (dysbiosis), and animal health. Given the (1) the ongoing global biodiversity crisis, (2) strong associating between host’s microbiome and health and (3) lack of studies in wildlife, our results are of high scientific and societal impact. Our results are applicable as tools for national and international policy makers regulating the sustainable use of natural resources, and for predicting zoonotic risk to humans.
Principal Investigator
Primary responsible unit
Related publications and other outputs
- Idiosyncratic effects of coinfection on the association between systemic pathogens and the gut microbiota of a wild rodent, the bank vole Myodes glareolus (2023) Brila, Ilze; et al.; A1
- Urban forest soils harbour distinct and more diverse communities of bacteria and fungi compared to less disturbed forest soils (2023) Scholier, Tiffany; et al.; A1; OA
- Evolved high aerobic capacity has context-specific effects on gut microbiota (2022) Hanhimäki, Elina; et al.; A1; OA
- Defining gut mycobiota for wild animals : a need for caution in assigning authentic resident fungal taxa (2021) Lavrinienko, Anton; et al.; A1; OA
- Does Intraspecific Variation in rDNA Copy Number Affect Analysis of Microbial Communities? (2021) Lavrinienko, Anton; et al.; A1; OA
- Low-level environmental metal pollution is associated with altered gut microbiota of a wild rodent, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) (2021) Brila, Ilze; et al.; A1; OA
