Environmental Reservoirs and Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance: From Wastewater to Disturbed Landscapes

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) does not stay confined to clinical settings, it moves through environmental reservoirs that connect human, animal, and ecosystem health. Wastewater systems concentrate resistant organisms and resistance genes from entire communities, while disturbed landscapes, from urban runoff to agricultural and post-industrial sites, create corridors where resistance can persist, recombine, and spread back toward human exposure points.This Research Topic brings together molecular surveillance, urban microbiome ecology, and environmental science to examine how AMR is maintained, transported, and monitored across these reservoirs. We welcome contributions on:- Detection and quantification of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and resistant organisms in wastewater and sewage systems- Urban and built-environment microbiomes as reservoirs or vectors for AMR dissemination- Impacts of land disturbance, urbanization, and land-use change on the environmental resistome- Surveillance methodologies, from targeted molecular assays to metagenomic approaches, for tracking AMR across environmental compartments- One Health frameworks linking environmental AMR reservoirs to human and animal health outcomesWe particularly encourage submissions that bridge scales, connecting molecular-level detection with landscape-level patterns of exposure and risk, and that advance surveillance tools with direct public health relevance. Topic editors: Leslie Dietz, Xun Qian Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85498/environmental-reservoirs-and-surveillance-of-antimicrobial-resistance-from-wastewater-to-disturbed-landscapes