AMR in wild animals and plants: global trends and future priorities in wildlife-associated antimicrobial resistance research

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global health concern, involving complex transmission pathways linking humans, domestic animals, wildlife, and the environment. Wild animals and plants can harbour and transmit AMR, while also serving as sentinels. Here, we aimed to evaluate current knowledge and research gaps on AMR in wild animals and plants to inform One Health research and policy. We conducted a semi‑systematic review of AMR in wild animals and plants, generating a dataset of 866 publications and analysing metadata on host taxa, microbial and genetic targets, and analytical approaches. The literature shows strong taxonomic, geographic, and methodological biases, with mammals and birds dominating, whereas plants ( n = 14) and amphibians ( n = 10) were rarely studied. Resistant fungi were also under‑represented (2% of studies), while Escherichia spp. accounted for 33% of microbial targets. Employing wildlife‑based surveillance offers a useful policy tool to address key AMR gaps at human-animal-environment interfaces.