Kennerley, R

Lacher, TEJ

Long, B

McCay, S

Roach, NS

Turvey, ST

Young, RP

English

UCL Discovery

1  Support for rodent ecology and conservation to advance zoonotic disease research 1 Thomas E. Lacher, Jr.1,3*, Rosalind Kennerley2, Barney Long3, Shelby McCay1, Nicolette S. Roach1,3, 2 Samuel T. Turvey4, Richard P. Young2 3 1Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, 4 USA, 2Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Les Augrès Manor, Trinity, Jersey JE3 5BP, Channel 5 Islands UK, 3Global Wildlife Conservation, P.O. Box 129, Austin, TX 78767, USA 4Institute of Zoology, 6 Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, NW1 4RY, UK 7 *Corresponding author, Email: tlacher@tamu.edu 8 Running Head: Rodents and zoonotic disease 9 Article impact statement: Our scientific knowledge of basic ecology and conservation science is lacking 10 for rodents, which is critical for zoonotic disease research 11 Keywords: Zoonoses, population dynamics, commensalism, small mammals, pandemics 12  13 The emergence of COVID-19 has drawn world-wide attention to zoonotic diseases and increased the 14 urgency to understand the origin and spread of zoonotic pandemics. Recent zoonosis investigations 15 have included controlling wild-sourced animals in the exotic pet trade, markets and high-density wildlife 16 farms (Can et al. 2019). Zoonotic host contact due to the increase in synanthropic rodent populations is 17 also increasing transmission in human-dominated systems (Morand et al. 2019; White & Razgour 2020). 18 The conversion of ecosystems to agriculture and suburban-urban landscapes provides more 19 opportunities for contact between humans and vectors of potential emerging diseases (Gibb et al. 20 2020).  21 2  We represent researchers engaged in the IUCN SSC Small Mammal Specialist Group, responsible for the 22 assessment of extinction risk and catalyzing conservation of the orders Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and 23 Scandentia. There are nearly 2,600 described species of rodents, comprising 40% of mammalian species, 24 and many are able to survive habitat degradation, have commensal potential, and exhibit high 25 reproductive rates (White & Razgour 2020). Recent estimates suggest that 10.7% of rodent species are 26 known hosts of zoonoses, including bartonella, Borrellia, leishmaniasis, Leptospirosis, and plague (White 27 & Razgour 2020), with higher viral richness than bats (Streicker & Gilbert 2020). Recent research has 28 shown that SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.351 (South Africa) and P.1 (Brazil) infect laboratory mouse cells and 29 can replicate to high titers (Montagutelli et al., 2021). The potential for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has 30 recently been documented among deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), with this species and other wild 31 rodents possibly able to serve as a reservoir host for the virus across a broad area of North America 32 (Fagre et al. 2020). 33 Increased knowledge and understanding of the biology of hosts and vectors and a clearer understanding 34 of the effects of human activities on host population dynamics are an important component of research 35 on zoonotic diseases (Dobson et al. 2020). The ecology and population dynamics of rodents remain 36 understudied, and of the 2,545 species assessed on the IUCN Red List, about 15% of the most diverse 37 families (Cricetidae and Muridae) are classified as Data Deficient. These are also families tolerant of 38 human disturbance and capable of explosive population growth. Ecologists and infectious disease 39 specialists need data on rodent population and community ecology and species responses to habitat 40 fragmentation, human incursions into wild lands, and rodent expansion into human-dominated 41 landscapes. Fragmentation and the creation of edge and transitional habitats will draw potential hosts 42 into closer contact with human populations working in this agricultural matrix. Fragmentation will also 43 alter community composition and community dynamics through processes like the fragmentation 44 threshold, resulting in the loss of specialist species and the dominance of generalists. These generalist 45 3  taxa are overwhelmingly abundant, Least Concern species more likely to be zoonotic hosts (Keesing & 46 Ostfeld 2012) and to function as “superhosts” capable of harboring multiple zoonotic viruses. Common, 47 abundant species require research investment for these reasons. A recent study on the role of 48 biodiversity in reducing infectious disease risk (the dilution effect) documented increased infectious 49 disease risk when human disturbance generates biodiversity gradients and loss of species (Halliday et al. 50 2020), leading to a dominance of generalists more likely to have “superhost” potential. Altered 51 community composition also impacts patterns of viral sharing among mammalian hosts, and rodents are 52 generally the taxon that dominates viral sharing in networks (Carlson et al. 2019). Research on 53 landscape ecology and conservation planning integrated with studies of viral diversity and host sharing 54 (Carlson et al. 2019), within communities of species known or suspected to be potential hosts for 55 zoonotic diseases, is a critical component of field-based monitoring and surveillance of emergence and 56 transmission. 57 Conservation must adjust to deal with global crises that impact all biodiversity (Schwartz et al. 2020). 58 We need to invest in research on the ecology and conservation biology of wildlife species most likely to 59 be abundant, come into contact with humans, and be potential reservoirs in future zoonotic outbreaks. 60 Given the global presence of SARS-CoV-2 and the number of potential rodent hosts and their use in 61 markets, microlivestock, and the wildlife and pet trade, we need more data on viral presence in rodent 62 species. How do life history traits and population dynamics of understudied and overlooked rodent 63 species, their status and persistence in human-modified habitats, their response over time to human 64 disturbance, and their natural viral loads determine which species have the potential to become sources 65 of future outbreaks? Ecology and conservation biology will be a critical component in improving 66 zoonotic disease monitoring and control. 67   68 4  Literature Cited 69 Can OE, D’Cruze N, MacDonald DW. 2019. Dealing in deadly pathogens: taking stock of the legal trade in 70 live wildlife and potential ricks to human health. Global Ecology and Conservation 17: e00515. 71  72 Carlson CJ, Zipfel CM, Garnier R, Bansal S. 2019. Global estimates of mammalian viral diversity 73 accounting for host sharing. Nature Ecology and Evolution 3:1070-1075.  74  75 Chomel BB, Belotto A, Meslin F-X. 2007. Wildlife, exotic pests, and emerging zoonoses. Emerging 76 Infectious Diseases 13:6–11. 77  78 Dobson AP et al. 2020. Ecology and economics for pandemic prevention. Science 369:379–381. 79  80 Fagre A et al. 2020.SARS-C0V-2 infection, neuropathogenesis and transmission among deer mice: 81 implications for reverse zoonosis to New World rodents. BioRxiv 82 https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.07.241810  83  84 Gibb R, Redding DW, Chin KQ, Donnelly CA, Blackburn TM, Newbold T, Jones KE. 2020. Zoonotic host 85 diversity increases in human-dominated systems. Nature 584:398-402. 86  87 Halliday FW, Rohr JF, Laine A-L. 2020. Biodiversity loss underlies the dilution effect of biodiversity. 88 Ecology Letters 23:1611-1622. 89  90 5  Huong NQ et al. 2020. Coronavirus testing indicates transmission risk increases along wildlife supply 91 chains for human consumption in Viet Nam, 2013-2014. PLoS ONE 15(8): e0237129.  92  93 Keesing F & Ostfeld RS. 2021. Impacts of biodiversity and biodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases. 94 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118: e2023540118. 95  96 Montagutelli, X. et al. 2012. The B1.351 and P.1 variants extend SARS-CoV-2 host range to mice. BioRxiv  97 https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.18.436013 98  99 Morand S, Blasdell K, Bordes FE, Buchy P, Carcy B, Chaisiri K et al. 2019. Changing landscapes of 100 Southeast Asia and rodent-borne diseases: decreased diversity but increased transmission risks. 101 Ecological Applications 29:e01886. 102  103 Schwartz MW, Glikman JA, Cook CN. 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic: a learnable moment for 104 conservation. Conservation Science and Practice 2020;2:e255. 105  106 Streicker D, Gilbert AT. 2020. Contextualizing bats as viral reservoirs. Science 370:172-173. 107  108 White RJ, Razgour O. 2020. Emerging zoonotic diseases originating in mammals: a systematic review of 109 effects of anthropogenic land-use change. Mammal Review doi: 10.1111/mam.12201. 110  111  112 

Support for rodent ecology and conservation to advance zoonotic disease research

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Support for rodent ecology and conservation to advance zoonotic disease research

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