Publication details
Host specificity and species jumps in fish-parasite systems
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Host specificity is one of the key factors governing the distribution and introduction of parasite species, but it is also an important aspect of parasite species diversity. Indeed, parasite taxa only infecting a single host species (or a limited number of them) can reach higher species numbers in a given area (Dobson et al., 2008). Moreover, an understanding of host specificity is crucial in estimates of parasite biodiversity and biogeography. The notion of parasite species being more or less unique to a host species easily contributes to the conclusion that global parasite species richness outnumbers many times the biodiversity of free-living species (Windsor, 1998). Logically, this aspect is also paramount to an accurate assessment of co-extinction, i.e. the extent to which a number of parasite species goes extinct once their host species does (Stork & Lyal, 1993; Koh et al., 2004; Dunn et al., 2009). A varying degree of host specificity also complicates the study of parasite distribution patterns. Indeed, global diversity or distribution gradients for parasites cannot simply be inferred from those of their hosts |