There relationship between malaria and deforestation is being more and more investigated. A study published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, says that preserving the biodiversity of tropical forests could help reduce the spread of malaria. A previous study by the scientists from the University of Wisconsin in 2010 suggested the sam conclusion: deforestation in the Amazon can be related to increased incidence of malaria. The study was based on statistic, without investigation in the reason of the relationship between malaria and deforestation. This relationship was investigated by Gabriel Laporta, an epidemiologist at Brazil’s University of Sao Paulo, using a mathematical model to examine two factors that can affect malaria transmission.

The numbers of warm-blooded animals—birds such as toucans and quails, and mammals such as howler monkeys and squirrels—and the numbers of mosquitoes that don’t carry malaria. "The mathematical model is a representation of the dynamics of malaria transmission," says Laporta. "Briefly, this dynamic includes an infected human with malaria parasites that is bitten by a susceptible mosquito vector. This mosquito vector becomes infected and can transmit the parasite to another human. But when we included ecological interactions into this dynamic—warm-blooded animals that act as non-competent hosts, and non-vector mosquitoes that compete with mosquito vectors for blood-meals—our model showed that these aspects of biodiversity can hinder malaria transmission and are thus an important part of the forest ecosystem."

"The Brazilian Government was desperate as the incidence of malaria reached five percent of the population. The malaria burden was mitigated by deforesting a ‘sanitary cordon’ around cities. As a result of this deliberate loss of biodiversity". The same is happening now with the whispered conversion of natural forests into plantations and pastures, presented by the agrarian lobby as a step to eradicate malaria. But this was the wrong way to fight malaria. The conclusion is that "Forest conservation and malaria control are not incompatible and thus biodiversity issues should be included in all malaria eradication programs in order to achieve the desirable goals of biological conservation and maintenance of low malaria transmission."