TY - JOUR
T1 - Setting the terms for zoonotic diseases
T2 - Effective communication for research, conservation, and public policy
AU - Shapiro, Julie Teresa
AU - Víquez-R, Luis
AU - Leopardi, Stefania
AU - Vicente-Santos, Amanda
AU - Mendenhall, Ian H.
AU - Frick, Winifred F.
AU - Kading, Rebekah C.
AU - Medellín, Rodrigo A.
AU - Racey, Paul
AU - Kingston, Tigga
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/7/1
Y1 - 2021/7/1
N2 - Many of the world’s most pressing issues, such as the emergence of zoonotic diseases, can only be addressed through interdisciplinary research. However, the findings of interdisciplinary research are susceptible to miscommunication among both professional and non-professional audi-ences due to differences in training, language, experience, and understanding. Such miscommuni-cation contributes to the misunderstanding of key concepts or processes and hinders the development of effective research agendas and public policy. These misunderstandings can also provoke unnecessary fear in the public and have devastating effects for wildlife conservation. For example, inaccurate communication and subsequent misunderstanding of the potential associations between certain bats and zoonoses has led to persecution of diverse bats worldwide and even government calls to cull them. Here, we identify four types of miscommunication driven by the use of terminology regarding bats and the emergence of zoonotic diseases that we have categorized based on their root causes: (1) incorrect or overly broad use of terms; (2) terms that have unstable usage within a discipline, or different usages among disciplines; (3) terms that are used correctly but spark incorrect inferences about biological processes or significance in the audience; (4) incorrect inference drawn from the evidence presented. We illustrate each type of miscommunication with commonly misused or misinterpreted terms, providing a definition, caveats and common misconceptions, and suggest alternatives as appropriate. While we focus on terms specific to bats and disease ecology, we present a more general framework for addressing miscommunication that can be applied to other topics and disciplines to facilitate more effective research, problem-solving, and public policy.
AB - Many of the world’s most pressing issues, such as the emergence of zoonotic diseases, can only be addressed through interdisciplinary research. However, the findings of interdisciplinary research are susceptible to miscommunication among both professional and non-professional audi-ences due to differences in training, language, experience, and understanding. Such miscommuni-cation contributes to the misunderstanding of key concepts or processes and hinders the development of effective research agendas and public policy. These misunderstandings can also provoke unnecessary fear in the public and have devastating effects for wildlife conservation. For example, inaccurate communication and subsequent misunderstanding of the potential associations between certain bats and zoonoses has led to persecution of diverse bats worldwide and even government calls to cull them. Here, we identify four types of miscommunication driven by the use of terminology regarding bats and the emergence of zoonotic diseases that we have categorized based on their root causes: (1) incorrect or overly broad use of terms; (2) terms that have unstable usage within a discipline, or different usages among disciplines; (3) terms that are used correctly but spark incorrect inferences about biological processes or significance in the audience; (4) incorrect inference drawn from the evidence presented. We illustrate each type of miscommunication with commonly misused or misinterpreted terms, providing a definition, caveats and common misconceptions, and suggest alternatives as appropriate. While we focus on terms specific to bats and disease ecology, we present a more general framework for addressing miscommunication that can be applied to other topics and disciplines to facilitate more effective research, problem-solving, and public policy.
KW - Bats
KW - Chiroptera
KW - Conservation
KW - Emerging infectious diseases
KW - Public health
KW - Science communication
KW - Zoonoses
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111106154&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/v13071356
DO - 10.3390/v13071356
M3 - Article
C2 - 34372562
AN - SCOPUS:85111106154
SN - 1999-4915
VL - 13
JO - Viruses
JF - Viruses
IS - 7
M1 - 1356
ER -