Parasites are disappearing from Puget Sound. That may sound good, but scientists warn that it has broader consequences for the area's eco-system, and the things we rely on within it. FOX13
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 WashingtonAn alarming number of parasites have been disappearing from Puget Sound for decades with little to no detection. While that may sound like good news, the reality is – parasites are crucial to ecosystems, and us.
"There is an invisible bio-diversity crisis happening," she said. "We have the first hints of it in Puget Sound, and what we saw is that parasite with the most complex life cycles are nose diving." A jar of fluid-preserved fish specimens from the UW Fish Collection at the Burke Museum. These fish were collected in Hood Canal in 1991. Credit: Katherine Maslenikov/UW Burke Museum
That may sound like music to some readers ears. Parasites, by definition, are bad for their hosts. When the average person thinks of a parasite you're likely thinking of a visit to a veterinarian, or a doctor; but the number of parasites that harm humans is miniscule compared to the hundreds of thousands of parasites that exist – many which have no effect on us. In fact, roughly half of all species on Earth are parasites.
Now, it's relatively accepted that wolves play an important role in food webs – Yellowstone National Park famously reintroduced wolves in 1995. That reintroduction aligns with meaningful changes in the area: from prey, to plants even insects and birds. The story of the changing look, and feel, of Yellowstone since the re-introduction has given people a new idea of what wolves mean to the greater ecosystem around them.
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