Conservation biologists sometimes have difficulty explaining the link between healthy wildlife communities and healthy human communities. A synthesis of these two historically disparate ideas has led to the nascent field of Conservation Medicine.

The conservation of biodiversity is necessarily tied to the maintenance of a healthy ecosystem, free of potentially dangerous diseases. However, anthropic alterations have in recent years placed more pressure than ever on wildlife. As a consequence of these pressures , which includes habitat loss, hunting, and the increasing proximity of humans (and their livestock) to wild areas, has caused emergent pathogens to take a significant toll on some species and also destabilizing entire habitats.

In these scenarios, species such as peccaries, jaguars, and ocelots can serve as barometers to monitor the health of ecosystems. They are “sentinel species” that provide an accurate gauge of the state of degradation of an ecosystem.

Since 2001, researchers involved in IPÊ's “Conservation Medicine Project ” have worked to conserve the Atlantic Forest of the Interior, using “sentinel species”. Health is the baseline for IPÊ's work: both that of the wild animals and of humans and their domestic stock. The consolidation of health and conservation contributes to better designed public policies for biodiversity conservation .