2024/09/05 by Eyal Frank · 1 voice · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Medicine · #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Zoonotic diseases and public health
paper · doi:10.1126/science.adg0344
openalex publication_date 2024/09/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Biodiversity loss is accelerating, yet we know little about how these ecosystem disruptions affect human well-being. Ecologists have documented both the importance of bats as natural predators of insects as well as their population declines after the emergence of a wildlife disease, resulting in a potential decline in biological pest control. In this work, I study how species interactions can extend beyond an ecosystem and affect agriculture and human health. I find that farmers compensated for bat decline by increasing their insecticide use by 31.1%. The compensatory increase in insecticide use by farmers adversely affected health-human infant mortality increased by 7.9% in the counties that experienced bat die-offs. These findings provide empirical validation to previous theoretical predictions about how ecosystem disruptions can have meaningful social costs.