Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Parasitology
Monogenea on exotic Indian freshwater fish. 8. Co-translocation of Cichlidogyrus tilapiae (Monogenea, Dactylogyridae) with pindani Chindongo socolofi (Cichliformes, Cichlidae), the first report of this parasite genus in India
Published: 2025-02-07
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Parasitology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Chindongo socolofi (Cichliformes, Cichlidae) is a popular freshwater ornamental fish from Lake Malawi in Africa. Although identifying parasites associated with the global ornamental trade is critical for developing biosecurity practices, little is known about the parasite fauna of C. socolofi. Therefore, this study sought to determine what monogenean parasites C. socolofi harbours in India. Adult [...]
Coinfection interactions systematically influence parasite diversity estimates in simulated host populations
Published: 2025-02-05
Subjects: Life Sciences, Parasitology
Parasite diversity is a central component of epidemiological dynamics. Parasite diversity is commonly studied across animal populations and species using metrics like parasite species richness; although these metrics generally assume no interactions among parasite species within a community, such interactions are common and important, and could affect parasite diversity estimates in ways that are [...]
Prevalence of Leaf Parasitism by Insects and Fungi in Wild Plant Communities: Implications for Community Assembly
Published: 2025-01-29
Subjects: Parasitology, Plant Pathology, Population Biology
Parasitism by infectious diseases and insect pests significantly shapes wild plant communities by stabilizing them through suppressing dominant species and destabilizing them by suppressing minor species. However, the dynamics of parasitism in wild ecosystems remain understudied. This study aimed to determine whether parasites infect a wide range of host species or are plant-specific, assess the [...]
Cichlid fishes are promising underutilised models to investigate helminth-microbiome interactions
Published: 2024-10-27
Subjects: Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Microbiology, Parasitology
The “Old Friends Hypothesis” suggests that insufficient early exposure to symbionts may hinder immune development, contributing to increased immune-related diseases in the Global North. While the microbiome is often the focus, helminths, which may also offer health benefits, receive little attention. The infection and effect of helminths, in turn, are influenced and may be even determined by [...]
Blood parasite infection causes marginal temporary costs in juvenile birds of prey
Published: 2022-02-24
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Parasitology
Physiological costs from parasites arise by host colonization and defence activation and can vary according to the interactions of host and parasite traits and states. Parasite-induced costs crucially differ between stages of infection but this is difficult to assess in wild vertebrates. To evaluate the effects of blood parasite infection in juvenile birds, we compared physiological measures of [...]
COVID-19 through the One Health lens: adding a missing perspective
Published: 2021-03-22
Subjects: Diseases, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Parasitology, Virus Diseases
The One Health concept offers an integrative approach to disease and health at the human-animal-environment interface. It has often been suggested to view the COVID-19 outbreak within this framework to better understand and mitigate this global crisis. Here, we discuss how the evolutionary ecology of host-pathogen systems can add a valuable additional perspective to the debate around SARS-CoV-2 [...]
Ecological Countermeasures for Pandemic Prevention: When Ecological Restoration is a Human Health Imperative
Published: 2020-12-06
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Bacteriology, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Environmental Public Health, Epidemiology, Immunity, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Immunology of Infectious Disease, Immunopathology, Integrative Biology, International Public Health, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Microbiology, Parasitology, Pathogenic Microbiology, Population Biology, Public Health, Systems Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Veterinary Infectious Diseases, Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology, Veterinary Pathology and Pathobiology, Zoology
Ecological restoration should be regarded as a public health service. Unfortunately, the lack of quantitative linkages between environmental and human health has limited recognition of these principle. Advent of COVID-19 pandemic provides the impetus for the further discussion. We propose ecological countermeasures as highly targeted, landscape-based interventions to arrest the drivers of land [...]
Reducing land use-induced spillover risk by fostering landscape immunity: policy priorities for conservation practitioners
Published: 2020-10-15
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Animal Studies, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Forest Sciences, Immunity, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Immunology of Infectious Disease, Immunopathology, International and Area Studies, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Parasitology, Population Biology, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration, Science and Technology Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Systems Biology
Anthropogenic land use change is the major driver of zoonotic pathogen spillover from wildlife to humans. In response to the global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the agent of COVID-19 disease), there have been renewed calls for landscape conservation as a disease preventive measure. While protected areas are a vital conservation tool for wildlands, more than 50% of habitable land is now [...]
Assessing symbiont extinction risk using cophylogenetic data
Published: 2019-09-25
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Life Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Parasitology
Symbionts have a unique mode of life that has attracted the attention of ecologists and evolutionary biologists for centuries. As a result of this attention, these disciplines have produced a mature body of literature on host-symbiont interactions. In contrast, the discipline of symbiont conservation is still in a foundational stage. Here, we aim to integrate methodologies on symbiont [...]