Abstract
ESEP Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics Contact the journal RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections ESEP 14:19-25 (2014) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00150 AS I SEE IT Biodiversity, microbes and human well-being Ilkka Hanski Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland *Corresponding author: ilkka.hanski@helsinki.fi ABSTRACT: The biodiversity hypothesis postulates that the rapid increase in the prevalence of allergies, asthma and other chronic inflammatory disorders in developed countries in the past few decades is caused by loss of biodiversity, which reduces human exposure to beneficial environmental microbes with essential immunoregulatory functions. The biodiversity hypothesis builds upon Graham Rook’s ‘old friends’ concept, which highlights the long-term evolution of the human immune system with a diverse assembly of microbes. I describe a case study showing that the incidence of atopy (allergy sensitization) in adolescents decreases significantly with an increasing amount of forest and agricultural land in the surroundings of their homes. Environmental microbiota as part of broader biodiversity provides a tangible but little appreciated ‘ecosystem service’, which is vital for every individual. KEY WORDS: Biodiversity · Environmental microbiota · Immune tolerance · Proteobacteria · Acinetobacter Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Hanski I (2014) Biodiversity, microbes and human well-being. Ethics Sci Environ Polit 14:19-25. https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00150 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESEP Vol. 14, No. 1. Online publication date: October 27, 2014 Print ISSN: 1863-5415; Online ISSN: 1611-8014 Copyright © 2014 Inter-Research.
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