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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/08/parasites-nature-protecting-biodiversity-under-threat
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| Parasites are nature’s great givers. Protecting them must be on our tick-list | Parasites are nature’s great givers. Protecting them must be on our tick-list |
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| Fri 8 Sep 2017 10.00 BST | |
| Last modified on Fri 8 Sep 2017 10.02 BST | |
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| Have you ever seen a headless toad? If the answer is no, now is a good time to go out looking for one. You see, it is almost exactly at this time of year that they are becoming headless thanks to the actions of tiny parasites that are emerging from out of their bodies. It is with these creatures that I would like to begin this piece about the worthiness or worthlessness of parasites. | Have you ever seen a headless toad? If the answer is no, now is a good time to go out looking for one. You see, it is almost exactly at this time of year that they are becoming headless thanks to the actions of tiny parasites that are emerging from out of their bodies. It is with these creatures that I would like to begin this piece about the worthiness or worthlessness of parasites. |
| The toadfly Lucilia bufonivora is a small, nondescript fly not unlike a bluebottle. In spring it anoints a chosen toad with some eggs, which it lays on the toad’s nose. The maggots that come forth from these eggs climb into the toad’s nostrils, where they begin to eat its nasal passages along with its eyes and brain before bursting forth from the toad’s head, all at once, later in the year. The result is a headless toad torso. Look out for them. | The toadfly Lucilia bufonivora is a small, nondescript fly not unlike a bluebottle. In spring it anoints a chosen toad with some eggs, which it lays on the toad’s nose. The maggots that come forth from these eggs climb into the toad’s nostrils, where they begin to eat its nasal passages along with its eyes and brain before bursting forth from the toad’s head, all at once, later in the year. The result is a headless toad torso. Look out for them. |
| How do the maggots know when to emerge en masse from the toad’s head? The answer is that, as the maggots grow, they become primed like a bomb. They become temperature-sensitive. They use the toad’s cold-bloodedness against it, activating a mass migration from the toad’s head when temperatures regularly drop below 14C … or about now. | How do the maggots know when to emerge en masse from the toad’s head? The answer is that, as the maggots grow, they become primed like a bomb. They become temperature-sensitive. They use the toad’s cold-bloodedness against it, activating a mass migration from the toad’s head when temperatures regularly drop below 14C … or about now. |
| At the exact moment you read this, thousands of toads are walking around in the countryside with a ticking time bomb in their head. Primed like this, each toad becomes the bomb-laden bus that must not drive slower than 50mph in the film Speed – except the passengers are the bad guys. And the passengers are obsessed with the weather. And there are thousands of buses. | At the exact moment you read this, thousands of toads are walking around in the countryside with a ticking time bomb in their head. Primed like this, each toad becomes the bomb-laden bus that must not drive slower than 50mph in the film Speed – except the passengers are the bad guys. And the passengers are obsessed with the weather. And there are thousands of buses. |
| As weird as it sounds, I’ve become a big fan of toadflies. The same goes for mites, protozoa, worms, fleas and ticks. Parasites are de rigueur for life on Earth. It was only a matter of time before a group of scientists would have the gall to call for their conservation. This happened on Wednesday, opening up an interesting area of ethical debate about whether such animals as worms and ticks are worth saving. | As weird as it sounds, I’ve become a big fan of toadflies. The same goes for mites, protozoa, worms, fleas and ticks. Parasites are de rigueur for life on Earth. It was only a matter of time before a group of scientists would have the gall to call for their conservation. This happened on Wednesday, opening up an interesting area of ethical debate about whether such animals as worms and ticks are worth saving. |
| The research paper used parasite specimens from the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of National History to map out the survival fortunes of 457 parasites from across the world. By applying a range of climate models to these species it was discovered that, as an average, we may lose 10% of our global parasite diversity by 2070. If you include host creatures, many of which are facing extinction, the number of threatened parasite species skyrockets to one in three. The hangers-on are only just hanging on, it seems, and so our parasite friends may come to need us more than ever, to ensure their survival. | The research paper used parasite specimens from the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of National History to map out the survival fortunes of 457 parasites from across the world. By applying a range of climate models to these species it was discovered that, as an average, we may lose 10% of our global parasite diversity by 2070. If you include host creatures, many of which are facing extinction, the number of threatened parasite species skyrockets to one in three. The hangers-on are only just hanging on, it seems, and so our parasite friends may come to need us more than ever, to ensure their survival. |
| Would this be a poorer world without the humble toadfly? | Would this be a poorer world without the humble toadfly? |
| Can we learn to love them, I wonder, particularly when they so often appear to cause such pain and suffering to other creatures? Sure, we could do without the parasites that cause intense distress to humans and their livestock and pets, but what about the rest? Would this be a poorer world without the humble toadfly? Or the emerald wasp, which makes zombies out of cockroaches? Or the flatworm larvae, which cause frogs to grow extra legs so that they can be eaten by birds, the only host in which the adult flatworm can mate? Or the slug mite? Would we even notice if creatures like these disappeared overnight? | Can we learn to love them, I wonder, particularly when they so often appear to cause such pain and suffering to other creatures? Sure, we could do without the parasites that cause intense distress to humans and their livestock and pets, but what about the rest? Would this be a poorer world without the humble toadfly? Or the emerald wasp, which makes zombies out of cockroaches? Or the flatworm larvae, which cause frogs to grow extra legs so that they can be eaten by birds, the only host in which the adult flatworm can mate? Or the slug mite? Would we even notice if creatures like these disappeared overnight? |
| The answer, as scientists are increasingly coming to understand, is yes, very probably. In many habitats on Earth, parasitism probably exceeds predation (preying on other species) as a means of acquiring energy for new life. In estuarine habitats, for instance, the number of parasitic trematode worms is higher than the biomass of estuarine birds. They have become the biomass upon which other things feed. In a curious sort of way, these creatures are now the life-givers. | The answer, as scientists are increasingly coming to understand, is yes, very probably. In many habitats on Earth, parasitism probably exceeds predation (preying on other species) as a means of acquiring energy for new life. In estuarine habitats, for instance, the number of parasitic trematode worms is higher than the biomass of estuarine birds. They have become the biomass upon which other things feed. In a curious sort of way, these creatures are now the life-givers. |
| There are other examples. On some oceanic islands, the lice and ticks and fleas that seabirds bring with them provide life-giving sustenance to scorpions, lizards and spiders, bolstering biological diversity. In a series of tests involving experimental grass plots in the US, the bulk of the biomass feeding on the grass didn’t come from the herbivores above ground, but rather from the parasitic fungus below. | There are other examples. On some oceanic islands, the lice and ticks and fleas that seabirds bring with them provide life-giving sustenance to scorpions, lizards and spiders, bolstering biological diversity. In a series of tests involving experimental grass plots in the US, the bulk of the biomass feeding on the grass didn’t come from the herbivores above ground, but rather from the parasitic fungus below. |
| The more we study parasites, they more we understand their value to ecosystems. They are not passengers within buses, in other words, but buses within bigger buses. And so I am happy to welcome parasites to the conservation debate. | The more we study parasites, they more we understand their value to ecosystems. They are not passengers within buses, in other words, but buses within bigger buses. And so I am happy to welcome parasites to the conservation debate. |
| Though we may feel uncomfortable with having to include them, in time I suspect we will come to realise that they have a part to play, one that has gone overlooked and unrecognised. With more research, perhaps we will come to see the best of ourselves in them. Energy harvesters. Ecological dynamos. Bringers of life. Or perhaps they have new things to teach us, like how better we might use the planet’s resources without anyone ever really noticing we were there. The true parasite-way. | Though we may feel uncomfortable with having to include them, in time I suspect we will come to realise that they have a part to play, one that has gone overlooked and unrecognised. With more research, perhaps we will come to see the best of ourselves in them. Energy harvesters. Ecological dynamos. Bringers of life. Or perhaps they have new things to teach us, like how better we might use the planet’s resources without anyone ever really noticing we were there. The true parasite-way. |
| • Jules Howard is a zoologist and the author of Sex on Earth and Death on Earth | • Jules Howard is a zoologist and the author of Sex on Earth and Death on Earth |
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