These monogenean worms were dissected from the gills of a preserved copper rockfish specimen from the UW Fish Collection at the Burke Museum. Credit: Katie Leslie/University of Washington
“People generally think that climate change will cause parasites to thrive, that we will see an increase in parasite outbreaks as the world warms,” said lead author Chelsea Wood, a UW associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences. “For some parasitethat may be true, but parasites depend on hosts, and that makes them particularly vulnerable in a changing world where the fate of hosts is being reshuffled.
“Our results show that parasites with one or two host species stayed pretty steady, but parasites with three or more hosts crashed,” Wood said. “The degree of decline was severe. It would trigger conservation action if it occurred in the types of species that people care about, like mammals or birds.”
Wood’s study is among the first to use a new method for resurrecting information on parasite populations of the past. Mammals and birds are preserved with taxidermy, which retains parasites only on skin, feathers, or fur. But fish, reptile, and amphibian specimens are preserved in fluid, which also preserves any parasites living inside the animal at the time of its death.
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