Date Time Conservationists may be unintentionally spreading pathogens between threatened animal populations Moving endangered species to new locations is often used as part of species conservation strategies, and can help to restore degraded ecosystems. But scientists say there is a high risk that these relocations are accidentally spreading diseases and parasites. We’ve seen that mixing different populations of mussels can allow widespread transmission of gonad-eating worms. David Aldridge The new report published today in the journal Conservation Letters focuses on freshwater mussels, which the researchers have studied extensively, but is applicable to all species moved around for conservation purposes.