Overstreet R M
University of Southern Mississippi, 703 East Beach Drive, Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564, USA.
Parassitologia. 2007 Sep;49(3):161-8.
Hurricanes, also called tropical cyclones, can dramatically affect life along their paths, including a temporary losing or reducing in number of parasites of fishes. Hurricane Katrina in the northern Gulf of Mexico in August 2005 provides many examples involving humans and both terrestrial and aquatic animals and plants. Fishes do not provide much of an indicator of hurricane activity because most species quickly repopulate the area. Fish parasites, however, serve as a good indicator of the overall biodiversity and environmental health. The reasons for the noted absence or reduction of parasites in fishes are many, and specific parasites provide indications of different processes. The powerful winds can produce perturbations of the sediments harboring intermediate hosts. The surge of high salinity water can kill or otherwise affect low salinity intermediate hosts or free-living stages. Both can introduce toxicants into the habitat and also interfere with the timing and processes involved with host-parasite interrelationships. All these have had a major influence on fish parasite populations of fishes in coastal Mississippi, especially for those parasites incorporating intermediate hosts in their life cycles. The length of time for a parasite to become re-established can vary considerably, depending on its life cycle as well as the associated biota, habitat, and environmental conditions, and each parasite provides a special indicator of environmental health.
飓风，也被称为热带气旋，会极大地影响其路径沿线的生物，包括鱼类寄生虫数量的暂时减少或消失。2005年8月在墨西哥湾北部发生的卡特里娜飓风就提供了许多涉及人类以及陆地和水生动植物的例子。鱼类并不能很好地指示飓风活动，因为大多数物种会很快在该区域重新繁衍。然而，鱼类寄生虫却是整体生物多样性和环境健康的良好指标。鱼类中出现上述寄生虫缺失或减少的原因有很多，不同的寄生虫反映了不同的过程。强风会扰动含有中间宿主的沉积物。高盐度海水的涌入会杀死或以其他方式影响低盐度的中间宿主或自由生活阶段。这两者都会将有毒物质引入栖息地，还会干扰宿主与寄生虫相互关系所涉及的时间和过程。所有这些都对密西西比沿海鱼类的寄生虫种群产生了重大影响，尤其是那些在生命周期中包含中间宿主的寄生虫。寄生虫重新定殖所需的时间会有很大差异，这取决于其生命周期以及相关的生物群、栖息地和环境条件，而且每种寄生虫都是环境健康的特殊指标。
