Human and veterinary active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are involved in contamination of surface water, ground water, effluents, sediments and biota. Effluents of waste water treatment plants and hospitals are considered as major sources of such contamination. However, recent evidences reveal high concentrations of a large number of APIs in effluents from pharmaceutical factories and in receiving aquatic ecosystems. Moreover, laboratory exposures to these effluents and field experiments reveal various physiological disturbances in exposed aquatic organisms. Also, it seems to be relevant to increase knowledge on this route of contamination but also to develop specific approaches for further environmental monitoring campaigns. The present study summarizes available data related to the impact of pharmaceutical factory discharges on aquatic ecosystem contaminations and presents associated challenges for scientists and environmental managers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Biologists have identified 25 areas, called biodiversity hotspots, that are especially rich in endemic species and particularly threatened by human activities. The human population dynamics of these areas, however, are not well quantified. Here we report estimates of key demographic variables for each hotspot, and for three extensive tropical forest areas that are less immediately threatened. We estimate that in 1995 more than 1.1 billion people, nearly 20% of world population, were living within the hotspots, an area covering about 12% of Earth's terrestrial surface. We estimate that the population growth rate in the hotspots (1995-2000) is 1.8% yr(-1), substantially higher than the population growth rate of the world as a whole (1.3% yr(-1)) and above that of the developing countries (1.6% yr(-1)). These results suggest that substantial human-induced environmental changes are likely to continue in the hotspots and that demographic change remains an important factor in global biodiversity conservation. The results also underline the potential conservation significance of the continuing worldwide declines in human fertility and of policies and programs that influence human migration.

Pathogens that can be transmitted between different host species are of fundamental interest and importance from public health, conservation and economic perspectives, yet systematic quantification of these pathogens is lacking. Here, pathogen characteristics, host range and risk factors determining disease emergence were analysed by constructing a database of disease-causing pathogens of humans and domestic mammals. The database consisted of 1415 pathogens causing disease in humans, 616 in livestock and 374 in domestic carnivores. Multihost pathogens were very prevalent among human pathogens (61.6%) and even more so among domestic mammal pathogens (livestock 77.3%, carnivores 90.0%). Pathogens able to infect human, domestic and wildlife hosts contained a similar proportion of disease-causing pathogens for all three host groups. One hundred and ninety-six pathogens were associated with emerging diseases, 175 in humans, 29 in livestock and 12 in domestic carnivores. Across all these groups, helminths and fungi were relatively unlikely to emerge whereas viruses, particularly RNA viruses, were highly likely to emerge. The ability of a pathogen to infect multiple hosts, particularly hosts in other taxonomic orders or wildlife, were also risk factors for emergence in human and livestock pathogens. There is clearly a need to understand the dynamics of infectious diseases in complex multihost communities in order to mitigate disease threats to public health, livestock economies and wildlife.

The extent to which biodiversity change in local assemblages contributes to global biodiversity loss is poorly understood. We analyzed 100 time series from biomes across Earth to ask how diversity within assemblages is changing through time. We quantified patterns of temporal alpha diversity, measured as change in local diversity, and temporal beta diversity, measured as change in community composition. Contrary to our expectations, we did not detect systematic loss of alpha diversity. However, community composition changed systematically through time, in excess of predictions from null models. Heterogeneous rates of environmental change, species range shifts associated with climate change, and biotic homogenization may explain the different patterns of temporal alpha and beta diversity. Monitoring and understanding change in species composition should be a conservation priority.

The One Health concept is gathering momentum and, over the next 12 months, Veterinary Record will be publishing a series of articles to help encourage that process. Written by specialists in a range of fields, the articles will consider the meaning of One Health, the interactions between animal and human health and how a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach could help to solve emerging global problems. To set the scene, Paul Gibbs outlines the recent history of One Health, discusses current challenges and muses on what the future might hold.

Two epidemic waves of an avian influenza A (H7N9) virus have so far affected China. Most human cases have been attributable to poultry exposure at live-poultry markets, where most positive isolates were sampled. The potential geographic extent of potential re-emerging epidemics is unknown, as are the factors associated with it. Using newly assembled data sets of the locations of 8,943 live-poultry markets in China and maps of environmental correlates, we develop a statistical model that accurately predicts the risk of H7N9 market infection across Asia. Local density of live-poultry markets is the most important predictor of H7N9 infection risk in markets, underscoring their key role in the spatial epidemiology of H7N9, alongside other poultry, land cover and anthropogenic predictor variables. Identification of areas in Asia with high suitability for H7N9 infection enhances our capacity to target biosurveillance and control, helping to restrict the spread of this important disease.

Malaria is a significant public health threat in the Brazilian Amazon. Previous research has shown that deforestation creates breeding sites for the main malaria vector in Brazil, Anopheles darlingi, but the influence of selective logging, forest fires, and road construction on malaria risk has not been assessed. To understand these impacts, we constructed a negative binomial model of malaria counts at the municipality level controlling for human population and social and environmental risk factors. Both paved and unpaved roadways and fire zones in a municipality increased malaria risk. Within the timber production states where 90% of deforestation has occurred, compared with areas without selective logging, municipalities where 0-7% of the remaining forests were selectively logged had the highest malaria risk (1.72, 95% CI 1.18-2.51), and areas with higher rates of selective logging had the lowest risk (0.39, 95% CI 0.23-0.67). We show that roads, forest fires, and selective logging are previously unrecognized risk factors for malaria in the Brazilian Amazon and highlight the need for regulation and monitoring of sub-canopy forest disturbance.

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are a significant burden on global economies and public health. Their emergence is thought to be driven largely by socio-economic, environmental and ecological factors, but no comparative study has explicitly analysed these linkages to understand global temporal and spatial patterns of EIDs. Here we analyse a database of 335 EID 'events' (origins of EIDs) between 1940 and 2004, and demonstrate non-random global patterns. EID events have risen significantly over time after controlling for reporting bias, with their peak incidence (in the 1980s) concomitant with the HIV pandemic. EID events are dominated by zoonoses (60.3% of EIDs): the majority of these (71.8%) originate in wildlife (for example, severe acute respiratory virus, Ebola virus), and are increasing significantly over time. We find that 54.3% of EID events are caused by bacteria or rickettsia, reflecting a large number of drug-resistant microbes in our database. Our results confirm that EID origins are significantly correlated with socio-economic, environmental and ecological factors, and provide a basis for identifying regions where new EIDs are most likely to originate (emerging disease 'hotspots'). They also reveal a substantial risk of wildlife zoonotic and vector-borne EIDs originating at lower latitudes where reporting effort is low. We conclude that global resources to counter disease emergence are poorly allocated, with the majority of the scientific and surveillance effort focused on countries from where the next important EID is least likely to originate.

Studies of microbial communities by targeted sequencing of rRNA genes lead to recovering numerous rare low-abundance taxa with unknown biological roles. We propose to study associations of such rare organisms with their environments by a computational framework based on transformation of the data into qualitative variables. Namely, we analyze the sparse table of putative species or OTUs (operational taxonomic units) and samples generated in such studies, also known as an OTU table, by collecting statistics on co-occurrences of the species and on shared species richness across samples. Based on the statistics we built two association networks, of the rare putative species and of the samples respectively, using a known computational technique, Association networks (Anets) developed for analysis of qualitative data. Clusters of samples and clusters of OTUs are then integrated and combined with metadata of the study to produce a map of associated putative species in their environments. We tested and validated the framework on two types of microbiomes, of human body sites and that of the Populus tree root systems. We show that in both studies the associations of OTUs can separate samples according to environmental or physiological characteristics of the studied systems.

Current unprecedented declines in biodiversity reduce the ability of ecological communities to provide many fundamental ecosystem services. Here we evaluate evidence that reduced biodiversity affects the transmission of infectious diseases of humans, other animals and plants. In principle, loss of biodiversity could either increase or decrease disease transmission. However, mounting evidence indicates that biodiversity loss frequently increases disease transmission. In contrast, areas of naturally high biodiversity may serve as a source pool for new pathogens. Overall, despite many remaining questions, current evidence indicates that preserving intact ecosystems and their endemic biodiversity should generally reduce the prevalence of infectious diseases.

The relationship between biodiversity and the rapidly expanding research and policy field of ecosystem services is confused and is damaging efforts to create coherent policy. Using the widely accepted Convention on Biological Diversity definition of biodiversity and work for the U.K. National Ecosystem Assessment we show that biodiversity has key roles at all levels of the ecosystem service hierarchy: as a regulator of underpinning ecosystem processes, as a final ecosystem service and as a good that is subject to valuation, whether economic or otherwise. Ecosystem science and practice has not yet absorbed the lessons of this complex relationship, which suggests an urgent need to develop the interdisciplinary science of ecosystem management bringing together ecologists, conservation biologists, resource economists and others.

Aim: We investigated whether objectively measured access to urban green spaces is associated with behavioural problems in 10-year old children living in Munich and its surrounding areas.
Methods: Behavioural problems were assessed in the GINIplus and LISAplus 10-year follow-up between 2006 and 2009 using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Access to green spaces was defined using the distance from a child's residence to the nearest urban green space. Associations between access to urban green spaces and behavioural problems were assessed using proportional odds and logistic regression models in 1932 children with complete exposure, outcome and covariate data.
Results: The distance between a child's residence and the nearest urban green space was positively associated with the odds of hyperactivity/inattention, especially among children with abnormal values compared to children with borderline or normal values (odds ratio (OR) = 1.20 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01-1.42) per 500 m increase in distance). When stratified by sex, this association was only statistically significant among males. Children living further than 500 m away from urban green spaces had more overall behavioural problems than those living within 500 m of urban green spaces (proportional OR = 1.41 (95% CI = 1.06-1.87)). Behavioural problems were not associated with the distance to forests or with residential surrounding greenness.
Conclusion: Poor access to urban green spaces was associated with behavioural problems in 10-year old children. Results were most consistent with hyperactivity/inattention problems. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Win-win solutions that both conserve biodiversity and promote human well-being are difficult to realize. Trade-offs and the hard choices they entail are the norm. Since 2008, the Advancing Conservation in a Social Context (ACSC) research initiative has been investigating the complex trade-offs that exist between human well-being and biodiversity conservation goals, and between conservation and other economic, political and social agendas across multiple scales. Resolving trade-offs is difficult because social problems - of which conservation is one - can be perceived and understood in a variety of disparate ways, influenced (in part at least) by how people are raised and educated, their life experiences, and the options they have faced. Pre-existing assumptions about the "right" approach to conservation often obscure important differences in both power and understanding, and can limit the success of policy and programmatic interventions. The new conservation debate challenges conservationists to be explicit about losses, costs, and hard choices so they can be openly discussed and honestly negotiated. Not to do so can lead to unrealized expectations, and ultimately to unresolved conflict. This paper explores the background and limitations of win-win approaches to conservation and human well-being, discusses the prospect of approaching conservation challenges in terms of trade-offs and hard choices, and presents a set of guiding principles that can serve to orient strategic analysis and communication regarding trade-offs. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

Understanding the gender similarities and differences in how organisms respond following exposure to environmental chemicals is important if we are to determine the relative risk of these agents to wildlife and human populations. In this paper, we have chosen to focus on the sex determination and differentiation of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles, because of their close association with the environment and the number of environmental factors (e.g., temperature and endocrine disrupting chemicals) that are known to affect these phenomena in these taxa. We have discussed examples of gender differences in response to exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and found gender similarities about as often as we found differences. We found that most studies examined either one sex exclusively, or the experimental design did not include examining the effect of sex as a variable. Given the central role of sex steroid hormones in the sex determination and sexual differentiation of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles, we recommend that future research purposefully include sex as a factor, so that risk assessment by government agencies can address the probable gender differences in effects from exposure to chemicals in the environment.

The disease ecology community has struggled to come to consensus on whether biodiversity reduces or increases infectious disease risk, a question that directly affects policy decisions for biodiversity conservation and public health. Here, we summarize the primary points of contention regarding biodiversity-disease relationships and suggest that vector-borne, generalist wildlife and zoonotic pathogens are the types of parasites most likely to be affected by changes to biodiversity. One synthesis on this topic revealed a positive correlation between biodiversity and human disease burden across countries, but as biodiversity changed over time within these countries, this correlation became weaker and more variable. Another synthesis-a meta-analysis of generally smaller-scale experimental and field studies-revealed a negative correlation between biodiversity and infectious diseases (a dilution effect) in various host taxa. These results raise the question of whether biodiversity-disease relationships are more negative at smaller spatial scales. If so, biodiversity conservation at the appropriate scales might prevent wildlife and zoonotic diseases from increasing in prevalence or becoming problematic (general proactive approaches). Further, protecting natural areas from human incursion should reduce zoonotic disease spillover. By contrast, for some infectious diseases, managing particular species or habitats and targeted biomedical approaches (targeted reactive approaches) might outperform biodiversity conservation as a tool for disease control. Importantly, biodiversity conservation and management need to be considered alongside other disease management options. These suggested guiding principles should provide common ground that can enhance scientific and policy clarity for those interested in simultaneously improving wildlife and human health.

A better understanding of the links between biodiversity, health and disease presents major opportunities for policy development, and can enhance our understanding of how health-focused measures affect biodiversity, and conservation measures affect health. The breadth and complexity of these relationships, and the socio-economic drivers by which they are influenced, in the context of rapidly shifting global trends, reaffirm the need for an integrative, multidisciplinary and systemic approach to the health of people, livestock and wildlife within the ecosystem context. Loss of biodiversity, habitat fragmentation and the loss of natural environments threaten the full range of life-supporting services provided by ecosystems at all levels of biodiversity, including species, genetic and ecosystem diversity. The disruption of ecosystem services has direct and indirect implications for public health, which are likely to exacerbate existing health inequities, whether through exposure to environmental hazards or through the loss of livelihoods. One Health provides a valuable framework for the development of mutually beneficial policies and interventions at the nexus between health and biodiversity, and it is critical that One Health integrates biodiversity into its strategic agenda.

Urbanization is presenting a growing problem for biodiversity conservation, notably by increasingly isolating over half of the world's population from the experience of nature. This separation of people from nature is an important environmental issue, as it could fundamentally influence the way people value nature and their willingness to conserve it. Here we provide the first experimental study that jointly explores how urban biodiversity can be enhanced and how these changes may influence some aspects of people-biodiversity interactions.
We significantly increased the diversity of flowers, birds and pollinators in small public gardens (Paris, France) by providing additional resources (i.e., planting flower-meadows and placing nesting-boxes). Semi-structured interviews were conducted in situ with 1116 regular garden users before and after the manipulation. Close-ended questionnaires were completed exploring the respondents' biodiversity perception and their sensitivity to the changes in biodiversity. Our results highlight a people-biodiversity paradox between people's perceptions and biodiversity awareness. Respondents expressed a strong preference for a rich diversity of species (excluding insects) and related this diversity to their well-being in the gardens. However, they did not notice the diversity of species. Respondents underestimated species richness and only noticed the changes in native flower richness in those gardens where advertisement and public involvement were organized. More experimental interdisciplinary studies are needed to further explore the people-biodiversity interactions. This would help expose the role that urban biodiversity plays in people's daily life and the importance of this interaction for raising public support for general conservation policies. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

The incidence and frequency of epidemic transmission of zoonotic diseases, both known and newly recognized, has increased dramatically in the past 30 years. It is thought that this dramatic disease emergence is primarily the result of the social, demographic, and environmental transformation that has occurred globally since World War II. However, the causal linkages have not been elucidated. Investigating emerging zoonotic pathogens as an ecological phenomenon can provide significant insights as to why some of these pathogens have jumped species and caused major epidemics in humans. A review of concepts and theory from biological ecology and of causal factors in disease emergence previously described suggests a general model of global zoonotic disease emergence. The model links demographic and societal factors to land use and land cover change whose associated ecological factors help explain disease emergence. The scale and magnitude of these changes are more significant than those associated with climate change, the effects of which are largely not yet understood. Unfortunately, the complex character and non-linear behavior of the human-natural systems in which host-pathogen systems are embedded makes specific incidences of disease emergence or epidemics inherently difficult to predict. Employing a complex systems analytical approach, however, may show how a few key ecological variables and system properties, including the adaptive capacity of institutions, explains the emergence of infectious diseases and how an integrated, multi-level approach to zoonotic disease control can reduce risk.

Recent reviews have argued that disease control is among the ecosystem services yielded by biodiversity. Lyme disease (LD) is commonly cited as the best example of the 'diluting' effect of biodiversity on disease transmission, but many studies document the opposite relationship, showing that human LD risk can increase with forestation. Here, we unify these divergent perspectives and find strong evidence for a positive link between biodiversity and LD at broad spatial scales (urban to suburban to rural) and equivocal evidence for a negative link between biodiversity and LD at varying levels of biodiversity within forests. This finding suggests that, across zoonotic disease agents, the biodiversity-disease relationship is scale dependent and complex.

Control of human infectious disease has been promoted as a valuable ecosystem service arising from the conservation of biodiversity. There are two commonly discussed mechanisms by which biodiversity loss could increase rates of infectious disease in a landscape. First, loss of competitors or predators could facilitate an increase in the abundance of competent reservoir hosts. Second, biodiversity loss could disproportionately affect non-competent, or less competent reservoir hosts, which would otherwise interfere with pathogen transmission to human populations by, for example, wasting the bites of infected vectors. A negative association between biodiversity and disease risk, sometimes called the "dilution effect hypothesis," has been supported for a few disease agents, suggests an exciting win-win outcome for the environment and society, and has become a pervasive topic in the disease ecology literature. Case studies have been assembled to argue that the dilution effect is general across disease agents. Less touted are examples in which elevated biodiversity does not affect or increases infectious disease risk for pathogens of public health concern. In order to assess the likely generality of the dilution effect, we review the association between biodiversity and public health across a broad variety of human disease agents. Overall, we hypothesize that conditions for the dilution effect are unlikely to be met for most important diseases of humans. Biodiversity probably has little net effect on most human infectious diseases but, when it does have an effect, observation and basic logic suggest that biodiversity will be more likely to increase than to decrease infectious disease risk.

As a result of rapid economic growth over the previous three decades, China has become the second largest economy worldwide since 2010. However, as a developing country with the largest population, this rapid economic growth primarily based on excessive consumption and waste of resources. Thus, China has been facing particularly severe ecological and environmental problems in speeding up industrialization and urbanization. The impact of the health risk factors is complex and difficult to accurately predict. Therefore, it is critical to investigate potential threats in the context of the human-animal-environment interface to protect human and animal health. The

Human coronaviruses continue to pose a threat to human health. The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019 which causes coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), an acute respiratory disease marked the third introduction of a highly pathogenic coronavirus into the human population in the twenty-first century. This recent emergence of a previously unknown coronavirus in China leads to huge impacts on humans globally. Covid-19 is a challenge to global public health. Here, we discuss the COVID-19 outbreak in a one health context, highlighting the need for the implementation of one health measures and practices to improve human health and reduce the emergence of pandemic viruses.