Published 5 February 2021
Global greenhouse gas emissions over the last century have made southern China a hotspot for bat-borne coronaviruses, by driving growth of forest habitat favored by bats.
Science of the Total Environment provides the first evidence of a mechanism by which climate change could have played a direct role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study has revealed large-scale changes in the type of vegetation in the southern Chinese Yunnan province, and adjacent regions in Myanmar and Laos, over the last century. Climatic changes including increases in temperature, sunlight, and atmospheric carbon dioxide - which affect the growth of plants and trees - have changed natural habitats from tropical shrubland to tropical savannah and deciduous woodland. This created a suitable environment for many bat species that predominantly live in forests.
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IMAGE: Estimated increase in the local number of bat species due to shifts in their geographical ranges driven by climate change since 1901.
The zoomed-in area represents the likely spatial. view more
Credit: Dr Robert Beyer
Global greenhouse gas emissions over the last century have made southern China a hotspot for bat-borne coronaviruses, by driving growth of forest habitat favoured by bats.
A new study published today in the journal
Science of the Total Environment provides the first evidence of a mechanism by which climate change could have played a direct role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bat hotspots created by climate change may have helped drive Covid
Scientists find that southern Chinese province of Yunnan has seen changes likely to have led to 40 extra species
5 February 2021 • 5:04pm
Studies have shown that a greater diversity in bat species allows for more coronavirus to emerge
Credit: Ye Aung Thu/AFP
Climate change may have helped drive the emergence of coronavirus, scientists have suggested.
Researchers at Cambridge University and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany looked for hotspots in which the changing climate has allowed bat species to flourish.
They found that the southern Chinese province of Yunnan has seen some of the biggest changes, likely to have led to an extra 40 species of bats. Previous studies have shown that a greater diversity in bat species allows for more coronavirus to emerge.