Abstract
Despite the number of virulent pathogens that are projected to benefit from global change and to spread in the next century, we suggest that a combination of coextinction risk and climate sensitivity could make parasites at least as extinction prone as any other trophic group. However, the existing interdisciplinary toolbox for identifying species threatened by climate change is inadequate or inappropriate when considering parasites as conservation targets. A functional trait approach can be used to connect parasites' ecological role to their risk of disappearance, but this is complicated by the taxonomic and functional diversity of many parasite clades. Here, we propose biological traits that may render parasite species particularly vulnerable to extinction (including high host specificity, complex life cycles and narrow climatic tolerance), and identify critical gaps in our knowledge of parasite biology and ecology. By doing so, we provide criteria to identify vulnerable parasite species and triage parasite conservation efforts.
Highlights
Changing climates are widely recognized as a major contributor to the sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s2017 The Authors
We highlight the aspects of parasite biology that make this category of organisms vulnerable to extinction resulting from climate change, and identify biological traits of parasite species that may act as important predictors of different outcomes under climate change
While large vertebrate hosts may hold the majority of parasite diversity, they are more likely to adapt slowly to climate change [51], and greater body size is conventionally associated with higher extinction risk [52]; larger hosts may be more likely to suffer primary extinction and simultaneously lose their parasites [53]
Summary
Changing climates are widely recognized as a major contributor to the sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s. We highlight the aspects of parasite biology that make this (polyphyletic) category of organisms vulnerable to extinction resulting from climate change, and identify biological traits of parasite species that may act as important predictors of different outcomes under climate change (summarized in figure 2) Those hypotheses are loosely focused on helminth endoparasites, but are readily applicable in many cases to other parasitic groups (e.g. in discussions of host specificity or free-living stages). In addition to our framework, we devote the final section of our paper to identifying the major missing links within each discipline that are needed to build an interdisciplinary parasite conservation toolbox
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
