# Without Borders? The Impact of Political Barriers and Land Use on the Animal Health Dynamics and Genetic Structures of Large Game Species in the Carpathian Basin and Surrounding Regions—A Systematic Review

## TL;DR

Wild animals in the Carpathian Basin face health and genetic risks due to political barriers and land use changes, requiring a coordinated One Health approach.

## Contribution

This review proposes a Basin-level One Health strategy to manage cross-border wildlife health risks through harmonized monitoring and data sharing.

## Key findings

- Political barriers and land use changes disrupt wildlife movement and increase transboundary health risks.
- Population genetic tools and landscape modeling can help map connectivity and identify priority threats like African swine fever.
- A coordinated One Health approach is essential for preventing and managing cross-border epizootics and zoonotic threats.

## Abstract

Wild animals move across the Carpathian Basin regardless of political borders. Their movements connect populations genetically and also connect areas through the spread of pathogens and parasites. In recent years, highways, fenced transport corridors and border barriers have reduced landscape permeability and reshaped where wildlife can cross, while neighboring countries often apply different hunting pressures, feeding practices and disease surveillance measures. Focusing on wild boar, red deer, roe deer, fallow deer and the expanding golden jackal, this review explains why these mismatches between ecological connectivity and administrative management can increase transboundary animal-health and zoonotic risks. We summarize how population genetic tools and landscape modeling can be used to map connectivity and we highlight priority threats such as African swine fever in wild boar, tick-borne hazards in deer and zoonotic parasites associated with carnivore expansion. Finally, we propose a Carpathian Basin-level One Health approach based on harmonized wildlife health monitoring, coordinated carcass search and reporting and cross-border sharing of genetic and epidemiological data to improve early warnings and the prevention of future outbreaks.

The Carpathian Basin is a coherent biogeographic unit whose wildlife populations and pathogen dynamics are increasingly reshaped by administratively fragmented governance, land-use change and linear infrastructure. This review synthesizes evidence that the permeability patterns governing host movement also structure the transboundary exchange of genes and infections, creating a connectivity substrate for conservation genetics and One Health risk. Focusing on wild boar (Sus scrofa), red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), fallow deer (Dama dama) and the expanding golden jackal (Canis aureus), we integrate population genetic inferences with wildlife epidemiology to examine how highways, border fences and asymmetric management (e.g., supplemental, feeding practices, hunting pressure and surveillance regimes) can generate biological asymmetries across boundaries. We highlight African swine fever as an emblematic disturbance in wild boar populations, discuss cervid risks including tick-borne pathogens and chronic wasting disease (CWD) preparedness and evaluate zoonotic threats associated with carnivore expansion (e.g., Echinococcus spp.). We propose a Carpathian Basin-level monitoring and data-sharing architecture, coupling harmonized passive surveillance, strategic active surveillance for priority pathogens, and standardized genetic marker panels supported by interoperable metadata. A Basin-scale One Health approach is a pragmatic prerequisite for the coordinated prevention, early detection and resilient management of cross-border epizootics and zoonotic threats.