Ebolavirus evolution and emergence are associated with land use change
Anthropogenic land use change (LUC) can facilitate zoonotic virus spillover and may impact viral evolution. We expanded the known phylogeographic analysis for Zaire (EBOV) and Sudan (SUDV) ebolavirus using newly available genomic data and land use data. The respective most recent common ancestors of all known EBOV and SUDV isolates both existed around 1960 in landscapes undergoing significant LUC driven by colonial agricultural schemes--the forests of northwest Democratic Republic of the Congo and the South Sudanese savanna, respectively. Subsequent genetic diversification, dispersal across Africa, and spillover of both viruses into human populations were also associated with LUC in later decades. Our results show that LUC not only increases the risk of spillover, but also impacts the evolution of the viruses themselves.