Biodiversity Change and Human Health

Exploring the link between human well-being and the environment, "Biodiversity Change and Human Health" brings together leading experts from the natural science and social science realms as well as the medical community to explore the explicit linkages between human-driven alterations of biodiversity and documented impacts of those changes on human health.The book utilizes multidisciplinary approaches to explore and address the complex interplay between natural biodiversity and human health and well-being. The five parts examine: health trade-offs between competing uses of biodiversity (highlighting synergistic situations in which conservation of natural biodiversity actually promotes human health and well-being); relationships between biodiversity and quality of life that have developed over ecological and evolutionary time; the effects of changing biodiversity on provisioning of ecosystem services, and how they have affected human health; the role of biodiversity in the spread of infectious disease; and, native biodiversity as a resource for traditional and modern medicine."Biodiversity Change and Human Health" synthesizes our current understanding and identifies major gaps in knowledge as it places all aspects of biodiversity and health interactions within a common framework. Contributors explore potential points of crossover among disciplines (both in ways of thinking and of specific methodologies) that could ultimately expand opportunities for humans to both live sustainably and enjoy a desirable quality of life.

Osvaldo E. Sala is the Sloan Lindemann Distinguished Professor of Biology and director of the Environmental Change Initiative at Brown University. Laura A. Meyerson is an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island, where she conducts research on biological invasions. Camille Parmesan is an associate professor in integrative biology at the University of Texas, Austin.