Climate Change and Wildlife Health: Direct and Indirect Effects

Hofmeister, Erik; Rogall, Gail Moede; Wesenberg, Kathy; Abbott, Rachel; Work, Thierry; Schuler, Krysten; Sleeman, Jonathan

Abstract:

Climate change will have significant effects on wildlife, domestic animal, and human diseases, according to scientists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that unprecedented rates of climate change will result in increased average global temperatures; a rise in sea levels; changes in global precipitation patterns, including increased amounts and variability; and increased midcontinental drying during summer (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007). Scientists suspect that increasing temperatures, in combination with changes in rainfall and humidity, may have significant impacts on wildlife, domestic animal, and human diseases. Because of expanding human populations, these changes could aggravate already limited water resources and increase habitat destruction, providing yet more opportunities for infectious diseases to cross from one species to another. Awareness has been growing in recent years about zoonotic diseases-that is, diseases that are transmissible between animals and humans. The rise of such diseases is the result of an increasingly close relationship among wildlife, domestic animals, and people, allowing more contact with diseased animals, or infected vectors and people (Daszak and others, 2000). Thus, it is impossible to separate the effects of global warming on wildlife from its effects on the health of domestic animals or people. Climate change effects must be distinguished from other human activities that threaten human and animal health, such as habitat destruction and urbanization, the introduction of exotic and invasive species, and pollution. Clearly, these human activities directly affect ecosystem health and thereby indirectly affect human and animal health as well. Climate change must also be viewed within the context of other physical and climate cycles, such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation (El Nino) (Rasmussen and Carpenter, 1982) and cycles in solar radiation (Carslaw and others, 2002) that have profound effects on the Earth‘s climate and human, domestic animal, and wildlife health. Still, convincing evidence exists for climate change effects on wildlife disease in several areas, four of which are addressed here: geographic range and distribution of wildlife diseases, plant and animal phenology (Walther and others, 2002), wildlife host-pathogen interactions, and disease patterns in wildlife. Other factors of concern, such as ecosystem composition and pathogen virulence, are addressed in climate change literature.

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USGS Numbered Series

ProdID:

98449

Citation Author:

Hofmeister, Erik; Rogall, Gail Moede; Wesenberg, Kathy; Abbott, Rachel; Work, Thierry; Schuler, Krysten; Sleeman, Jonathan

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National Wildlife Health Center

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ENGLISH

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4 p.

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Prepared by the USGS National Wildlife Health Center

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U.S. Geological Survey

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Fact Sheet

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2010-3017

Citation Search Results Text:

Climate Change and Wildlife Health: Direct and Indirect Effects; 2010; FS; 2010-3017; Hofmeister, Erik; Rogall, Gail Moede; Wesenberg, Kathy; Abbott, Rachel; Work, Thierry; Schuler, Krysten; Sleeman, Jonathan