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Health ecology
Study of human health and ecosystems / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Health ecology (also known as eco-health) is an emerging field that studies the impact of ecosystems on human health. It examines alterations in the biological, physical, social, and economic environments to understand how these changes affect mental and physical human health. Health ecology focuses on a transdisciplinary approach to understanding all the factors which influence an individual's physiological, social, and emotional well-being.
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Eco-health studies often involve environmental pollution. Some examples include an increase in asthma rates due to air pollution, or PCB contamination of game fish in the Great Lakes of the United States. However, health ecology is not necessarily tied to environmental pollution. For example, research has shown that habitat fragmentation is the main factor that contributes to increased rates of Lyme disease in human populations.