Integrated Monitoring of Parasites in Changing Environments

Global parasite biodiversity is facing an extinction crisis, with up to 30% of species in each major parasite group predicted to be extinct by 2070; a risk that only escalates when host coextinctions are considered. However parasites are typecast as biological villains, despite most species posing no threat to human health or wildlife conservation. Unsurprisingly, parasites are the most neglected components of biodiversity management strategies, and are completely absent from conservation discussions, unlike their more charismatic free-living hosts. Furthermore, the decline and disappearance of parasites is seldom a focus in long-term or distribution monitoring programs due to the lack of cost-effective monitoring tools for detecting broad-scale biodiversity changes. IMPACT aims to support the integration of parasites into aquatic biodiversity monitoring directives and environmental decision making. Specifically, IMPACT will determine the spatial-temporal status and long-term trends of European freshwater fish parasite biodiversity; establish a specimen and molecular barcode reference library to future-proof the identification of freshwater fish parasites; evaluate eDNA as an integrative tool for assessing fish parasite diversity in aquatic biodiversity monitoring; and gain knowledge about stakeholders’ perceptions of parasites and their role in environmental governance. As a result, IMPACT will break down key barriers to the inclusion of parasites in transnational biodiversity and ecosystem change monitoring by co-developing a framework together with stakeholders to facilitate the inclusion of parasites in national and international biodiversity management and conservation strategies.

Parasites are typecast as biological villains due to their threats to human health and wildlife conservation, despite most metazoan parasites having no zoonotic potential, and constituting an overwhelming proportion of current biodiversity. Unsurprisingly, parasites remain the most neglected components of biodiversity management strategies, and completely absent from conservation discussions, unlike their more charismatic free-living hosts. Furthermore, the decline and disappearance of parasites is seldom a focus in long-term or distribution monitoring programs, and the value of parasites as integrative biological indicators remains under-exploited due to the lack of cost-effective monitoring tools for detecting broad-scale biodiversity changes. IMPACT aims to achieve the overall goal of providing evidence-based knowledge to support the integration of parasites into aquatic biodiversity monitoring directives and environmental decision making. Specifically, IMPACT will determine the spatial-temporal status and long-term trends of European freshwater fish parasite biodiversity; explore different facets of diversity, and establish a curated reference library of specimens and molecular barcodes to facilitate identification of freshwater fish parasites; critically evaluate eDNA as an integrative tool for assessing fish parasite diversity in aquatic biodiversity monitoring; and gain knowledge about stakeholders’ perceptions of parasites and their role in environmental governance. Subsequently, IMPACT will break down key barriers to the inclusion of parasites in transnational biodiversity and ecosystem change monitoring by co-developing with relevant stakeholders and society groups a framework to facilitate the explicit inclusion of parasites in national and international biodiversity management and conservation strategies.