Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 17, 2025

Author Spotlight: Real-Time Monitoring of Parasite Burden and Host Response
Published on: May 31, 2024
Parasites as conservation tools
Roderick B Gagne1, Kevin R Crooks2, Meggan E Craft3
1Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Abstract:
Parasite success typically depends on a close relationship with one or more hosts; therefore, attributes of parasitic infection have the potential to provide indirect details of host natural history and are biologically relevant to animal conservation. Characterization of parasite infections has been useful in delineating host populations and has served as a proxy for assessment of environmental quality. In other cases, the utility of parasites is just being explored, for example, as indicators of host connectivity. Innovative studies of parasite biology can provide information to manage major conservation threats by using parasite assemblage, prevalence, or genetic data to provide insights into the host. Overexploitation, habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive species, and climate change are major threats to animal conservation, and all of these can be informed by parasites.
Related Concept Videos
Overview of Protists
Conservation of Small Populations
Diversity of Protists I
Diversity of Protists II
Symbiosis
Conservation of Declining Populations

