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Title: An integrated parasitology: Revealing the elephant through tradition and invention

Author
item Hoberg, Eric
item AGOSTA, SALVATORE - Virginia Commonwealth University
item BOEGER, WALTER - Universidade Federal Do Parana
item BROOKS, DANIEL - Universidade Federal Do Parana

Submitted to: Trends in Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/3/2014
Publication Date: 12/2/2014
Citation: Hoberg, E.P., Agosta, S.J., Boeger, W.A., Brooks, D.R. 2014. An integrated parasitology: Revealing the elephant through tradition and invention. Trends in Parasitology. 31(4):128-33. doi:10.1016/j.pt.2014.11.005.

Interpretive Summary: Responses to emerging infectious diseases and the dissemination of pathogens are for the most part reactionary, a mode that has not served us especially well in limiting potential impacts of a rapidly changing biosphere. How we adapt to accelerating disruption of the biosphere, including variation in the distribution, abundance and emergence of pathogens and diseases (most often old diseases in new hosts), depends critically on our ability to identify and anticipate responses to perturbation of global ecosystems. Effective strategies require a thorough grounding in ecology and evolution. The field of parasitology can contribute to the elucidation of patterns and processes in evolution, ecology and biogeography, of fundamental importance across the biosphere, leading to a thorough understanding of biodiversity and varied responses to global change. Foundations from taxonomic and systematic information drive biodiversity discovery and foster considerable infrastructure and integration of research programs. Morphological, physiological, behavioral, life history and molecular data can be synthesized to discover and describe global parasite diversity, in a timely manner. In fully incorporating parasitology in policies for adaptation to global change, parasites and their hosts should be archived and studied within a newly emergent conceptual universe (Stockholm Paradigm), embracing inherent complexity of host-parasite systems and improved explanatory power to understand biodiversity past, present and future. The Stockholm Paradigm provides a new way to understand emerging pathogens and diseases of wildlife, including a shift in emphasis from reactive to proactive and anticipatory policies of management. We believe that adopting the Stockholm Paradigm can promote more sustainable and cost effective approaches to anticipating and managing emergent diseases in space and time. Evolutionary Risk Assessment becomes a proactive stance contrasting with reactive modes characterized by current epidemiology. Basic tenets of the Stockholm Paradigm direct attention to emerging infectious diseases, before they happen, in the context of ecological perturbation, using knowledge of biodiversity, past environments, and equivalence of biological processes to anticipate the future in a world of rapid change. Synoptic historical baselines with authoritative identification across the full range of environments are necessary to recognize patterns of environmental change over time. Articulation of specimen, genetic (direct linkage to GenBank), genomic and informatics archives (geo-referenced data, GIS environmental interpretations, niche modeling, phylogenies, ecological and historical context) in digital formats contributing to these baselines leads to maximum flexibility in characterization of biodiversity. Archives available as on-line resources of museums and other permanent repositories can provide vital information to biologists, managers, conservationists and the veterinary and biomedical communities helping to anticipate emerging wildlife diseases.

Technical Abstract: The field of parasitology contributes to the elucidation of patterns and processes in evolution, ecology and biogeography, of fundamental importance across the biosphere, leading to a thorough understanding of biodiversity and varied responses to global change. Foundations from taxonomic and systematic information drive biodiversity discovery and foster considerable infrastructure and integration of research programs. Morphological, physiological, behavioral, life history and molecular data can be synthesized to discover and describe global parasite diversity, in a timely manner. In fully incorporating parasitology in policies for adaptation to global change, parasites and their hosts should be archived and studied within a newly emergent conceptual universe (Stockholm Paradigm), embracing inherent complexity of host-parasite systems and improved explanatory power to understand biodiversity past, present and future.