Organiser: Hasselt University - Parasite Specialist Group
Despite their often strongly negative connotation, parasites are crucial actors in any healthy ecosystem. Parasites are also widely accepted as useful tools for biodiversity conservation so their value in safeguarding biodiversity is multiplied far beyond parasites themselves. Main threats to parasite populations are the same threats as for their host species. Climate change and the ensuing habitat degradation are threatening parasites directly, but also indirectly through the decline in host populations and host extinctions (leading to a risk of so-called “co-extinction”). Unfortunately, dozens of parasite species are known to be endangered and this is a grave underestimation: there is probably no other group of organisms on Earth that is threatened with extinction to a higher extent than parasites. But fortunately, the idea of conserving parasite species gained a lot of traction, and efforts for parasite conservation are underway.
In 2023, the IUCN SSC Parasite Specialist Group (PSG) was founded to assess the conservation status of metazoan parasites of vertebrates (excluding humans and domesticated animals) and to advance conservation efforts for threatened parasite species. The Parasite Specialist Group is an international network of experts in the fields of parasitology, ecology, conservation, systematics, veterinary medicine, and more. There are also opportunities for non-members to support assessments for particular parasite species and for other scientific or educational collaborations.
We would like to use this opportunity to engage RCF attendees with training and collaboration opportunities related to parasite conservation.
Speakers:
Nikol Kmentová, Hasselt University (Belgium)
"Ecosystem services of parasites and why should we care"
Maarten Vanhove, Hasselt University (Belgium)
"First steps of the International Coordination Action in support of the IUCN SSC Parasite Specialist Group"
Tiziana Gobbin, Hasselt University (Belgium)
"Threats to parasite communities: the case study of human-impacted Lake Victoria"
Tamara Szentivanyi, HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research (Hungary)
"Using community science to better understand the occurrence and distribution of rare parasites"