A walk on the tundra: Host-parasite interactions in an extreme environment

Authors: KUTZ, S - University Of Calgary; Hoberg, Eric; MOLNAR, P - Princeton University; DOBSON, A - Princeton University; VEROCAI, G - University Of Calgary

Submitted to: International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/29/2014
Publication Date: 4/1/2014
Citation: Kutz, S., Hoberg, E.P., Molnar, P.K., Dobson, A., Verocai, G.G. 2014. A walk on the tundra: Host-parasite interactions in an extreme environment. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. 3:198-208.

Interpretive Summary: The Arctic is a vast landscape of extremes. It is home to a flora and fauna that thrive under these conditions, using a variety of life-history strategies that enable them to persist in this highly seasonal environment. Deep and recent historical processes have plainly played a defining role in determining the structure and diversity of host-parasite assemblages in the Arctic. Dynamic variation in climate, as manifested by glacial-interglacial cycles, patterns of isolation related to refugial zones of varying duration and extent, biotic structure (e.g., host density and sympatry), and dispersal/isolation on landscape to regional scales have all contributed to the development of faunal complexity in what is otherwise a “simple” system. Recognizing this past remains an important key to understanding the present - with history providing a pathway for anticipating and predicting how complex host-parasite systems may respond to a regime of accelerating environmental change. Climate change is occurring very rapidly in the Arctic, the processes that have taken millions of years to evolve in this very extreme environment are now changing on timescales as short as decades. These changes are dramatic, subtle and non-linear. The insights we gain from understanding them in the relatively simple world of the Arctic will extrapolate to the temperate and Tropical regions where climate change may be slower but interacts synergistically with very rapid rates of land-use change. Insights gained from studying the history and ecology of host–parasite systems in the Arctic will be central to understanding the role that climate change is playing in these more complex systems. A synthesis provides a pathway for government scientists, wildlife managers, ecologists and disease specialists for understanding the interaction of history and ecology in determining biotic structure and the distribution of pathogens and diseases. A basic understanding of diversity is essential to any adaptive planning as science and society responds to accelerating climate change.

Technical Abstract: The Arctic is a vast, sparsely populated region that has captured the imagination and interest of explorers and scientists for generations. It is an environment of extremes and has been considered by many an inhospitable landscape and the last frontier to be explored. Despite the ‘hardships’ imposed by the environment, interconnected communities of wildlife, people, and pathogens have thrived in this dynamically changing ecosystem for millenia. The current accelerating changes to the Arctic climate are unprecedented historically and are having profound impacts on the daily lives of the Arctic’s indigenous peoples and the structure and function of arctic ecosystems. The recently released IPCC report highlights the dramatic abiotic impacts that climate warming is having across the Arctic: shrinking sea-ice and ice caps, melting permafrost, erosion, and an increased frequency in extreme weather events. Consequences of these changes include shifting plant and animal communities and changing food webs, altered animal behaviour and phenology, increased heat stress, and changes in pathogen diversity and patterns of exposure for people and animals.