Pathogen spillover driven by rapid changes in bat ecology

Restoring habitats could prevent viral spillover

30 June 2023

Preserving existing natural habitats and restoring old ones should help pathogens from spilling over from wild animals to people.

Pathogens such as viruses sometimes spillover from wildlife to people. Changes in land use are thought to accelerate this transmission, but the way in which this happens had been unclear.

Now, a team led by researchers from Griffith University in Australia has analysed 25 years of data on land-use change in subtropical eastern Australia, the behaviour of fruit bats, and the spillover of the often fatal Hendra virus to horses.

Their analysis revealed that bats responded to changes in their environment by the ongoing adoption of measures usually seen during temporary food shortages, such as living near farms, which increased virus spillover.

Furthermore, the team found that when eucalypt trees in forests flowered in winter, the bats remained in their natural habitat, preventing spillover. This suggests that restoring natural habitats will be effective in curbing spillover.

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References

1. Nature 613, 340–344 (2023). doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05506-2