Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Conserv Biol. 2022 Feb;36(1):e13719. doi: 10.1111/cobi.13719. Epub 2021 Jun 11.
Parasite success typically depends on a close relationship with one or more hosts; therefore, attributes of parasitic infection have the potential to provide indirect details of host natural history and are biologically relevant to animal conservation. Characterization of parasite infections has been useful in delineating host populations and has served as a proxy for assessment of environmental quality. In other cases, the utility of parasites is just being explored, for example, as indicators of host connectivity. Innovative studies of parasite biology can provide information to manage major conservation threats by using parasite assemblage, prevalence, or genetic data to provide insights into the host. Overexploitation, habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive species, and climate change are major threats to animal conservation, and all of these can be informed by parasites.
寄生虫的成功通常取决于与一个或多个宿主的密切关系; 因此，寄生虫感染的特征有可能提供宿主自然史的间接细节，并且与动物保护具有生物学相关性。寄生虫感染的特征分析有助于描绘宿主种群，并可作为环境质量评估的替代指标。在其他情况下，寄生虫的用途才刚刚开始被探索，例如作为宿主连通性的指标。寄生虫生物学的创新性研究可以通过寄生虫组合、流行率或遗传数据提供有关宿主的信息，从而为管理主要保护威胁提供信息。过度开发、生境丧失和破碎化、入侵物种和气候变化是动物保护的主要威胁，所有这些都可以通过寄生虫来了解。
