Is Biodiversity Good for Human Health?

Many of the most newsworthy infectious disease outbreaks are harbored in wildlife, including Ebola, SARS coronaviruses, and Lyme disease. Evidence also suggests that risks from some types of infectious diseases are reduced when ecosystems are healthy and intact. What are the conditions under which biodiversity is "good" for human infectious disease risks, and when does biodiversity serve as a "spark" for emergence of disease in human populations? We will engage with this important topic in a debate format, focusing on views that engage biodiversity as a beneficial "ecosystem service," versus the view that biodiversity comes with health risks that should be managed. The event will conclude with perspectives from local experts in conservation biology and infectious disease ecology - Katia Koelle of Duke University and Charles Mitchell of the University of North Carolina. Cosponsored with the Triangle Center for Evolutionary Medicine (TriCEM)