Using Parasites to Monitor Ecosystem Health

Publisher: USGS | Science Center: Western Fisheries Research Center (WFRC, Seattle) | Format: URL

www.werc.usgs.gov — Parasites can play a positive role in ecosystems. The USGS Western Ecological Research Center is working with the Channel Islands National Park in California to better understand how bacterial epidemics can protect kelp forests from overgrazing by sea urchins and how parasitic castrators might be used against invasive crabs. Researchers will More... Parasites can play a positive role in ecosystems. The USGS Western Ecological Research Center is working with the Channel Islands National Park in California to better understand how bacterial epidemics can protect kelp forests from overgrazing by sea urchins and how parasitic castrators might be used against invasive crabs. Researchers will develop monitoring tools that use parasites to evaluate the health of salt marshes. Parasites may be affected by the biodiversity of the community of hosts that they inhabit. A measure of the trematode community provides a single, integrated snapshot of the hosts that have been in an estuary over the average life-span of the snails that occur there. This technique has already proven useful in assessing the success of habitat restoration at Carpinteria Salt Marsh in California. A high diversity and abundance of parasites may indicate a healthy ecosystem by reflecting high abundances of diverse hosts connected by multiple trophic interactions. Less...