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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #320172

Title: Climate change in the North American Arctic: A one health perspective

Author
item DUDLEY, JOSEPH - University Of Alaska
item Hoberg, Eric
item JENKINS, EMILY - University Of Saskatchewan
item PARKINSON, ALAN - Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) - United States

Submitted to: EcoHealth
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/13/2015
Publication Date: 6/13/2015
Publication URL: http://doi: 10.1007/s10393-015-1036-1
Citation: Dudley, J.P., Hoberg, E.P., Jenkins, E.J., Parkinson, A.J. 2015. Climate change in the North American Arctic: A one health perspective. EcoHealth. doi: 10.1007/s10393-015-1036-1.

Interpretive Summary: Global warming is anticipated to cause significant changes in the occurrence of diseases among people and animals within the Arctic and sub-Arctic latitudes of North America. Higher environmental temperatures in the Arctic may increase the risk of disease from temperature-sensitive foodborne pathogens and toxins, water-borne pathogens, and vector-borne pathogens in human and animal populations. A collaboration linking scientists in academic centers from Alaska and Canada, the Centers for Disease Control and the US National Parasite Collection is exploring the outcomes and anticipated impacts of climate warming and ecological change. Pathways for pathogen transmission and dissemination of contaminants often involve common linkages through food habits and foraging behavior (food webs), emphasizing the importance of subsistence food-chains, wildlife resources and the shared environment for animal and human health. Management practices for wildlife, land and water resources have potentially profound implications for the health of people and ecological communities in the North American Arctic. Accelerated environmental change associated with increasing rates of anthropogenic perturbation makes the Arctic region an area of highest priority for national and international efforts to identify, predict, and mitigate the biotic impacts of climate warming at community, ecosystem, regional and landscape scales. Our collaborative research has implications for global management, international planning to mitigate impacts, and development of proactive measures to understand environmental change by wildlife managers and disease specialists at hihg latitudes.

Technical Abstract: Climate change is expected to increase the prevalence of acute and chronic diseases among human and animal populations within the Arctic and sub-Arctic latitudes of North America. Warmer temperatures are expected to increase disease risks from food-borne pathogens, water-borne diseases, and vector-borne zoonoses in human and animal populations of Arctic landscapes. Existing high levels of mercury and persistent organic pollutant chemicals circulating within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Arctic latitudes are a major concern for the reproductive health of humans and other mammals, and climate warming will accelerate the mobilization and biological amplification of toxic environmental contaminants. The adverse health impacts of Arctic warming will be especially important for wildlife populations, and indigenous peoples dependent upon subsistence food resources from wild plants and animals. Additional research is needed to identify and monitor changes in the prevalence of zoonotic pathogens in humans, domestic dogs, and wildlife species of critical subsistence, cultural, and economic importance to Arctic peoples. The long-term effects of climate warming in the Arctic cannot be adequately predicted or mitigated without a comprehensive understanding of the interactive and synergistic effects between environmental contaminants and pathogens in the health of wildlife and human communities in Arctic ecosystems. The complexity and magnitude of the documented impacts of climate change on Arctic ecosystems, and the intimacy of connections between their human and wildlife communities, makes this region an appropriate area for development of One Health approaches to identify and mitigate the effects of climate warming at the community, ecosystem, and landscape scales.