• Human alteration of natural habitats may change the processes governing species interactions in wild communities. Wild populations are increasingly impacted by agricultural intensification, yet it is unknown whether this alters biodiversity mediation of disease dynamics.
• We investigated the association between plant diversity (species richness, diversity) and infection risk (virus richness, prevalence) in populations of Plantago lanceolata in natural landscapes as well as those occurring at the edges of cultivated fields. Altogether, 27 P. lanceolata populations were surveyed for population characteristics and sampled for PCR detection of five recently characterized viruses.
• We find that plant species richness and diversity correlated negatively with virus infection prevalence. Virus species richness declined with increasing plant diversity and richness in natural populations while in agricultural edge populations species richness was moderately higher, and not associated with plant richness. This difference was not explained by changes in host richness between these two habitats, suggesting potential pathogen spill‐over and increased transmission of viruses across the agro‐ecological interface. Host population connectivity significantly decreased virus infection prevalence.
• We conclude that human use of landscapes may change the ecological laws by which natural communities are formed with far reaching implications for ecosystem functioning and disease.

中文翻译：

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农业土地利用扰乱了野生植物种群中病毒感染的生物多样性介导

• 人类对自然栖息地的改变可能会改变控制野生社区中物种相互作用的过程。野生种群日益受到农业集约化的影响，但尚不清楚这是否改变了疾病动态的生物多样性中介。
• 我们调查了自然景观以及在耕地边缘发生的轮叶车前草种群中植物多样性（物种丰富度，多样性）与感染风险（病毒丰富度，患病率）之间的关联。总共调查了27个轮叶轮虫种群的种群特征，并取样进行了PCR检测5种最近鉴定的病毒。
• 我们发现植物物种的丰富性和多样性与病毒感染率呈负相关。病毒物种的丰富度随着自然界中植物多样性和丰富度的增加而下降，而在农业边缘种群中，物种丰富度则适度地较高，并且与植物丰富度无关。这两个生境之间寄主丰富度的变化并不能解释这种差异，这表明潜在的病原体溢出和病毒跨农业生态界面传播的增加。寄主群体的连通性大大降低了病毒感染的发生率。
• 我们得出的结论是，人类对景观的使用可能会改变形成自然群落的生态规律，对生态系统功能和疾病产生深远的影响。