By Samuel Myers, Lynne Gaffikin, Christopher Golden, Richard Ostfeld, Kent Redford, Taylor Ricketts, Will Turner and Steven Osofsky

Human activity is rapidly transforming most of Earth’s natural systems. How this transformation is impacting human health, whose health is at greatest risk, and the magnitude of the associated disease burden are relatively new subjects within the field of environmental health.

This study discusses what is known about the human health implication of changes in the structure and function of natural systems and proposes that these changes are affecting human health in a variety of important ways.

It also identifies several gaps and limitations in the research that has been done to date and proposes a more systematic and comprehensive approach to applied research in this field.

Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration (Myers et al 2013 )