SYMP 20 - Zoonoses and the Agricultural Matrix: Integration and Synthesis for Landscape Immunity

Organizer(s)

• IP

  Ivette Perfecto

  University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability
  Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Co-organizer(s)

• BO

  Beatriz Otero

  Stony Brook University
• LC

  Luis Fernando Chaves

  Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Panamá, Panama
• KL

  Kevin Li

  University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability
  Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Moderator(s)

• CK

  Claire Kremen

  University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed human vulnerabilities to infectious diseases across the world and has highlighted the need to better understand zoonotic pathogens spillover and transmission processes. Emergent infectious diseases with pandemic potential are becoming more common. Two thirds of emergent diseases are zoonotic and nearly three quarters of infectious zoonotic diseases originate in wildlife and spillover directly to humans, or indirectly via livestock. Anthropogenic land use changes have long been implicated in zoonotic diseases, with deforestation, fragmentation, and general conversion of forest to agriculture accelerating zoonotic spillover of pathogens from vertebrate animal hosts to humans by reducing biodiversity, while simultaneously increasing reservoir population abundance and their contact with humans. However, the scientific underpinnings of land use-induced zoonotic spillover and transmission through the agricultural matrix have received little attention from the scientific community. Agricultural landscapes are socioecological dynamical systems that can have complex and sometimes contradictory effects on the zoonotic pathogen infect–shed–spill–spread cascade pathways. Therefore, it is important to engage in interdisciplinary collaborations to generate new knowledge that can inform ways to achieve landscape immunity. Ecologists and conservation biologists working on zoonosis have traditionally focused on understanding how biodiversity loss impacts host reservoirs, while epidemiologists have focused on the pathogens, and also examined conditions at household and human community levels that influence rates of transmission of infectious diseases. This symposium is an attempt to stimulate interdisciplinary discussions and collaborations to advance toward a more holistic understanding of land use implications for zoonotic disease emergence beyond the simplistic assumption that deforestation and agricultural conversion reduce biodiversity and therefore increase the probability of emergence and epidemics of zoonotic diseases. Globally, food systems have massive impacts on ecosystems and agricultural practices, including interactions between humans and animals, and therefore they constitute a fundamental driver of the emergence of zoonotic diseases. But a landscape dominated by large scale intensive agricultural plantations is very different, ecologically and socio-politically, from a landscape dominated by indigenous and/or small-scale landholders practicing diverse agroecological farming. This symposium will highlight these differences and engage in a more nuanced approach that recognizes the complexities of agricultural landscapes and how these affect the emergence and transmission of zoonotic diseases. Ultimately, we hope to contribute to the development of science-based management and policy that can generate agricultural landscapes that protect human health, advance food sovereignty and security, and minimize zoonotic disease risk.

Presentations:

• 1:30 PM – 1:50 PM EDT

  Preventing pandemics at the pre-emergence stage
  

  Presenting Author: Raina Plowright – The Department of Public & Ecosystem Health, Cornell University

  Co-author: Peggy Eby – Griffith University

  Co-author: Alison J. Peel – Griffith University

  Co-author: Andrew Hoegh – Montana State University

  Co-author: Wyatt Madden – Emory University

  Co-author: John R. Giles – University of Washington

  Co-author: Peter J. Hudson – Pennsylvania State University
• 1:50 PM – 2:10 PM EDT

  Four quarters! Or no quarter for Biodiversity? Simple quantitative insights into balancing land for agriculture, biodiversity and water
  

  Presenting Author: Andy P. Dobson – Princeton University
• 2:10 PM – 2:30 PM EDT

  Exploring future food systems in the context of emerging zoonotic diseases using scenario exploration
  

  Presenting Author: Alon Shepon – Porter School of Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University

  Co-author: Tong Wu – Stanford University

  Co-author: Claire Kremen – University of British Columbia

  Co-author: Tamar Dayan – The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel

  Co-author: Ivette Perfecto – University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability

  Co-author: Jessica Fanzo – School of Advanced International Studies, Berman Institute of Bioethics and Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

  Co-author: Gidon Eshel – Department of Environmental Science, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, United States of America

  Co-author: Christopher golden – Department of Environmental Health, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
• 2:30 PM – 2:50 PM EDT

  Matrix matters: a new approach for understanding zoonoses emergence in agricultural landscapes
  

  Presenting Author: Ivette Perfecto – University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability

  Co-author: Luis Fernando Chaves – Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Panamá

  Co-author: Kevin Li – University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability

  Co-author: Gordon Fitch – University of Massachusetts Amherst

  Co-author: Zachary Hajian-Forooshani – University of Michigan, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

  Co-author: Nicholas Medina – University of Michigan

  Co-author: Jonathan R. Morris – University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability

  Co-author: Beatriz Otero – Stony Brook University

  Co-author: Iris S. Rivera Salinas – University of Michigan

  Co-author: Chenyang Su – University of Michigan

  Co-author: Kimberly Williams-Guillen – University of Michigan

  Co-author: Alexa White – University of Michigan

  Co-author: John Vandermeer – University of Michigan, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• 2:50 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

  Discussion