Fish Parasites as Biological Indicators in a Changing World: Can We Monitor Environmental Impact and Climate Change?

Abstract

Global warming scenarios combined with political and public awareness have led to increasing funding and research efforts on the measurement and prediction of effects of a changing world on the ecosystems. Fish parasites represent a major part of aquatic biodiversity, and consequently become affected either directly through the environment or indirectly through their respective hosts. On the basis of a conservative estimate of an average of 3–4 fish parasites in each existing fish species alone and a current number of 31,400 described fish species, we can estimate the existence of up to 120,000 fish parasite species, including both protozoans and metazoans. Combined with a number of life cycle stages that may infect all aquatic hosts and organs, this vast biodiversity represents a widely neglected tool for a variety of ecology-based applications. Studies have demonstrated that fish parasites can serve as biological indicator organisms to illustrate the ecology of their infected hosts, including feeding, migration and population structure. Parasite metrics have been connected to specific environmental conditions, and they can indicate different pollutants such as heavy metal concentrations, industrial and sewage pollution, and also eutrophication. Most recently, parasite infections have been connected to anthropogenic impact and environmental change also in marine habitats. This book chapter summarizes the use of fish parasites as biological indicators, and discusses their potential and the requirements in the utilization of fish parasites as biological indicators of climate change.