[PDF] Biodiversity decreases disease through predictable changes in host community competence | Semantic Scholar

The life-history traits that cause some hosts to be widespread and resilient might be correlated with those that promote infection and transmission by some pathogens, supporting the notion that the dilution effect might be widespread among disease systems.

A suite of mechanisms through which diversity could increase or decrease disease risk is described, and the potential applicability of these mechanisms for both vector-borne and non-vector-borne diseases, and for both specialist and generalist pathogens is illustrated.