HORIZON EUROPE ZUMBBA Project: Studying the urban movements of a model bird species to understand the role of biodiversity in the spread of zoonoses. (Assessing Bird Biodiversity in Zoonoses and Urban Movements)

The human population in cities is expected to increase globally by 1 billion by the end of the current decade, resulting in an expansion of urban areas by between 1.2 and 1.8 million square kilometers. Planning for natural environments in cities is essential to providing a wide range of ecosystem services such as extreme weather mitigation, clean air, and recreational opportunities. However, these benefits must be considered alongside the potential costs that may arise due to increased opportunities for human-wildlife conflicts, such as those caused by the spread of zoonotic diseases.

Tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease, Mediterranean spotted fever, Q fever, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, are major health problems that are expected to become increasingly important in Europe in the near future and will require close monitoring. Birds are an efficient and rapid means of transport for livestock and can facilitate the spread of diseases.

Most available research samples ticks from birds and other wildlife to assess the presence and absence of diseases in natural habitats or uses spatial models to predict disease distribution based on bioclimatic variables. However, studies that directly track the role of bird movements in urban areas to define risk gradients for the local population are lacking. Furthermore, it remains controversial whether increased biodiversity, by strengthening ecosystem stability and creating a dilution effect, decreases the risk of zoonotic disease spread, or whether increased biodiversity can actually enhance and boost pathogen spread.

The current proposal aims to test

• If emerging tick-borne diseases are present in Spanish cities of different sizes (Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo),
• If the movement of Parus major, a non-migratory bird species, can be used to track the distribution and spread of tick-borne diseases within urban areas,
• Whether the distribution and occurrence of tick-borne diseases covary with local biodiversity levels.