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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Collecting Marine Gnathiid Isopod Fish Parasites with Light Traps
Published on: September 25, 2023
Food webs: a plea for parasites
1Environment Canada, St Lawrence Centre, 105 McGill Street, 7th Floor, Montreal, Quebec,CanadH2Y 2E7.
Abstract:
Parasites have the capacity to regulate host populations and may be important determinants of community structure, yet they are usually neglected in studies of food webs. Parasites can provide much of the information on host biology, such as diet and migration, that is necessary to construct accurate webs. Because many parasites have complex life cycles that involve several different hosts, and often depend on trophic interactions for transmission, parasites provide complementary views of web structure and dynamics. Incorporation of parasites in food webs can substantially after baste web properties, Including connectance, chain length and proportions of top and basal species, and can allow the testing of specific hypotheses related to food-web dynamics.
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