Warming temperatures in one part of the world seem to have driven down the parasite population, suggesting another unexpected way that climate change harms ecosystems.
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Wood had been searching for detailed historical datasets for over 10 years, and Kuris’ was only the second one she’d found. There simply weren’t many folks working decades ago who took thorough records of data like the number of parasites in each host and the body size of each host two pieces of information crucial for comparing historical and contemporary ecosystems, she explained.
“It’s almost impossible to get any time depth on trajectories of parasite change for this reason,” Wood said. “We have no idea how parasites have been changing for the past couple of decades. We’re just flying blind.”
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