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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=parasites&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/parasites/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 23:52:03 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Parasites</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/parasites/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Some free-roaming cats in New York City are parasite &#8216;super-shedders,&#8217; study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/some-free-roaming-cats-in-new-york-city-are-parasite-super-shedders-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/some-free-roaming-cats-in-new-york-city-are-parasite-super-shedders-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2026 16:33:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Megerle]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/05030557/1-Neighborhood-Cats-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325347</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, New York, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Health, Mammals, Parasites, Small Cats, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If you’ve ever strolled through New York City and felt like there were a lot of cats strutting the streets, you weren’t wrong. No one knows exactly how many felines wander New York, but it’s a lot. Bideawee, a regional animal shelter, says tens of thousands of stray and feral cats live in the city’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If you’ve ever strolled through New York City and felt like there were a lot of cats strutting the streets, you weren’t wrong. No one knows exactly how many felines wander New York, but it’s a lot. Bideawee, a regional animal shelter, says tens of thousands of stray and feral cats live in the city’s outdoor spaces. In 2023, The New York Times said there could be as many as half a million feral cats; the same year, CBS News reported the number could be double that. The health of these cats is a bit less of a mystery thanks to a recent study from researchers at Rowan and Long Island Universities. It’s well-known that free-roaming cats can carry parasites and “shed” the eggs in their feces, which can then infect humans, pets and wildlife via contact with animal waste or soil in public places. Unmanaged free-roaming cat populations, the authors write, “occupy a critical interface between animal health, human health, and environmental hygiene.” But studies on this problem in New York City are rare, according to the researchers. The team tested nearly 90 cats across every borough except Manhattan in the late spring and summer of 2023. They found that more than half were infected with at least one parasite; 22% harbored two or more. These results aren’t surprising, said Felicia Nutter, a wildlife veterinarian at Tufts University, in an email to Mongabay. The study establishes a baseline for cats in this area. Continuing to study this same population&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/some-free-roaming-cats-in-new-york-city-are-parasite-super-shedders-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/some-free-roaming-cats-in-new-york-city-are-parasite-super-shedders-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325347</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The European wildcat hovers between recovery and local extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-european-wildcat-hovers-between-recovery-and-local-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-european-wildcat-hovers-between-recovery-and-local-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 May 2026 13:12:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/07014556/Image_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318902</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Czech Republic, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, and Turkey]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cats, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Funding, Genetics, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hunting, Mammals, Parasites, Population, Reintroductions, Saving Species From Extinction, Small Cats, Solutions, Species recovery, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A quiet comeback story is unfolding for the European wildcat in the Czech Republic’s Lusatian Mountains. Conservationists tracking this elusive species there have spotted a male and female, named Jonáš and Tonka, the first to be found in the region in nearly a century. This small cat species lives in forests across Europe. It’s doing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A quiet comeback story is unfolding for the European wildcat in the Czech Republic’s Lusatian Mountains. Conservationists tracking this elusive species there have spotted a male and female, named Jonáš and Tonka, the first to be found in the region in nearly a century. This small cat species lives in forests across Europe. It’s doing relatively well in some places and is imperiled in others, like the Czech Republic, where it’s critically endangered. The European wildcat (Felis silvestris), which is around the size of a large housecat, was wiped out because of disappearing habitat — and persecution. They were considered vermin and killed because they preyed on poultry and they were hunted for sport. More recently, they’re sometimes hybridizing, breeding with domestic cats. Numbers are spotty across parts of their range, so overall population numbers and trends, whether they’re rebounding or declining, is currently unknown. That’s a challenge shared by many of the world’s 30-plus small wildcat species that are often overlooked by research and funding. But they are hanging on in the Czech Republic. Earlier this year, Tonka gave birth to at least three kittens, offering hope that a slow wildcat recovery may be underway. Conservationists set up “hair traps,” wooden posts smeared with a lure that attracts the wildcats, then analyzed DNA from fur they left behind when they rubbed on them to mark their territory, as cats do. Genetically confirmed records of wildcat births are “exceedingly rare” in the country, said Kristýna Chroboková, field coordinator with the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-european-wildcat-hovers-between-recovery-and-local-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-european-wildcat-hovers-between-recovery-and-local-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318902</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mass salmon deaths hit Scottish farms as government investigates</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/mass-salmon-deaths-hit-scottish-farms-as-government-investigates/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/mass-salmon-deaths-hit-scottish-farms-as-government-investigates/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Feb 2025 16:35:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/12113637/Smolt_salmo_salar_29119938758-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294269</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, Scotland, and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquaculture, Conservation, Consumption, Diseases, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Food, Food Industry, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Parasites, Politics, Resource Conflict, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) died on fish farms in Scotland in the final months of 2024. The mass mortality events took place as a parliamentary committee concluded an inquiry into the industry, saying it was “disappointed” by the lack of progress on environmental pollution and animal welfare issues. Among the most [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) died on fish farms in Scotland in the final months of 2024. The mass mortality events took place as a parliamentary committee concluded an inquiry into the industry, saying it was “disappointed” by the lack of progress on environmental pollution and animal welfare issues. Among the most striking incidents recorded by the Scottish Fish Health Inspectorate, 59,000 adult salmon died between September and October 2024 at a farm in Loch Torridon owned by Norwegian multinational Mowi that Mongabay visited in September. The main causes of death were gill disease and mechanical treatments to remove parasitic sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis). Due to this and previous incidents, in the 18-month production cycle ending in October, the farm, which can hold at least 2,500 metric tons of salmon at a time, declared a 30% loss of production. Even more salmon died on other farms. Between September and November, 323,000 dead salmon were reported at the Invertote farm on the Isle of Skye, owned by local company Organic Sea Harvest. Many of these deaths, the company reported, were due to string of pearls jellyfish (Apolemia uvaria), whose poisonous tentacles can wound salmon’s skin, eyes and gills. This jellyfish is also responsible for several episodes at the Mowi farm on the Isle of Muck, where 272,000 salmon died between October and November, either as a direct result of injuries or due to the emergency transfer of fish to other sites. “In the last couple of years, my&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/mass-salmon-deaths-hit-scottish-farms-as-government-investigates/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/mass-salmon-deaths-hit-scottish-farms-as-government-investigates/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294269</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A deadly parasite turns jaguar conservation into a human health priority</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/a-deadly-parasite-turns-jaguar-conservation-into-a-human-health-priority/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/a-deadly-parasite-turns-jaguar-conservation-into-a-human-health-priority/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2024 20:00:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/30161847/Jaguar-in-Pantanal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292539</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Jaguars, Landscape Restoration, Parasites, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, Paul Raad crouched in the undergrowth, scanning the ground for signs of jaguar activity. He wasn’t looking for the big cats themselves; instead, the veterinarian from São Paulo State University (UNESP) was searching for fresh jaguar feces. Spotting a recent sample, Raad carefully collected it, stored it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, Paul Raad crouched in the undergrowth, scanning the ground for signs of jaguar activity. He wasn’t looking for the big cats themselves; instead, the veterinarian from São Paulo State University (UNESP) was searching for fresh jaguar feces. Spotting a recent sample, Raad carefully collected it, stored it in a sterile container, and sent it to a lab to be analyzed. It was one sample of dozens that he’s collected since 2022. The team of technicians at the wildlife postgraduate program at UNESP made a surprising discovery in the jaguar scat: the presence of the tapeworm genus Spirometra. While Spirometra have been widely documented in scat from wildlife in Asia and Europe, this marked their first detection in jaguar droppings in the Pantanal. &#8220;We found it in many fecal samples. [This tapeworm] wasn’t even the main target of the study, but it stood out so much — screaming, ‘Look, I’m here’ — that we ended up prioritizing it,” Felipe Fornazari, a UNESP professor and supervisor of Raad’s master’s research, told Mongabay. Paul Raad examines a Spirometra spp. tapeworm collected from the feces of a jaguar from the Brazilian Pantanal. Image © Eduardo Rossi/UNESP. It was an important discovery. Although parasites evoke negative connotations, researchers see them playing a key role in jaguar conservation. Jaguar populations are at risk from retaliatory killings by farmers, who see them as pests endangering livestock, especially in the Brazilian Pantanal, where about 90% of the land is privately&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/a-deadly-parasite-turns-jaguar-conservation-into-a-human-health-priority/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/a-deadly-parasite-turns-jaguar-conservation-into-a-human-health-priority/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292539</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Last of the reef netters: An Indigenous, sustainable salmon fishery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/last-of-the-reef-netters-decline-of-an-indigenous-sustainable-salmon-fishery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/last-of-the-reef-netters-decline-of-an-indigenous-sustainable-salmon-fishery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Nov 2023 17:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/21141536/Fishtoss_RShowalter_COVER-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275682</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Culture, Drought, Ecosystems, Extreme Weather, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Freshwater Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Natural Resources, Oceans, Parasites, Rivers, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WHATCOM COUNTY, Washington — &#8220;Some mornings, the sun&#8217;s hitting that reef net just right and it’s like I know it&#8217;s talking to me,” said Ellie Kinley, a member of the Lummi (Lhaq&#8217;temish) Nation and the last Indigenous permit holder of an ancient salmon-fishing practice. Her reef net rig, parked on the shore of Lummi Nation, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WHATCOM COUNTY, Washington — &#8220;Some mornings, the sun&#8217;s hitting that reef net just right and it’s like I know it&#8217;s talking to me,” said Ellie Kinley, a member of the Lummi (Lhaq&#8217;temish) Nation and the last Indigenous permit holder of an ancient salmon-fishing practice. Her reef net rig, parked on the shore of Lummi Nation, serves as a reminder of a once-thriving Indigenous fishing tradition that, for now, sits idle. &#8220;It&#8217;s saying, &#8216;I&#8217;m sitting here. Don&#8217;t forget about me.'&#8221; For centuries, Indigenous people of the Salish Sea relied on reef netting as a sustainable salmon-fishing technique. However, colonialism has left the tribes disconnected from a practice that once defined their cultural identity. Now, many find themselves balancing day-to-day economic realities with an ardent desire to revive reef net fishing and restore this vital link to what they say is their sacred heritage. Reef net fishing intercepts chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho (O. kisutch), sockeye (O. nerka), chum (O. keta) and pink (O. gorbuscha) salmon as they travel from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in Fraser River near present-day Washington state and British Columbia. Rather than chasing the fish, this technique relies on a net stretched between two anchored boats. Long lines of rope run from the boats, creating an artificial reef that corrals the fish into the net (hence the name reef net). Once the salmon reach the net, the lookouts sound the alarm, and the crew quickly pulls the catch into the boat. Traditionally, the Lummi built these rigs from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/last-of-the-reef-netters-decline-of-an-indigenous-sustainable-salmon-fishery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/last-of-the-reef-netters-decline-of-an-indigenous-sustainable-salmon-fishery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275682</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fish out of water: North American drought bakes salmon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/fish-out-of-water-north-american-drought-bakes-salmon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/fish-out-of-water-north-american-drought-bakes-salmon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Nov 2023 19:19:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Nandithachandraprakash]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/20172353/Salmon-leaping-Deepwell-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275630</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Animals, Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Drought, Ecosystems, Extreme Weather, Fish, Fisheries, Food, Food Industry, Freshwater Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Parasites, Politics, Rivers, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One after another, salmon leapt out of the water and hurtled themselves at the falls, propelled by instinct to move upriver. They, like all Pacific salmon, were born in freshwater, migrated to the ocean and were now returning as adults to their natal streams to spawn and die. But the Fraser River was running low [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One after another, salmon leapt out of the water and hurtled themselves at the falls, propelled by instinct to move upriver. They, like all Pacific salmon, were born in freshwater, migrated to the ocean and were now returning as adults to their natal streams to spawn and die. But the Fraser River was running low after months of drought. At this stretch near the Bridge River Rapids in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, the water was so low in mid-October that the salmon couldn’t access their usual passage up the fish ladder. Instead, they were desperately trying to find another way over the rocks, but they couldn’t make it. For these fish, help was at hand. For days, members and friends of the Xwísten, an Indigenous group that is part of the St’át’imc Nation and whose territory encompasses this traditional fishing spot, scooped up salmon with large dip nets, passed them hand to hand in a human chain up the rocks, and released them above the falls. In all, they moved more than 7,000 fish. Eventually machinery was brought in; an all-terrain excavator chiseled out rocks to ease the salmon’s transit over the falls, and a helicopter dropped sandbags to raise the water level near the fish ladder. “The project to save the fish is important to not only our community but to the St’at’imc Nation and many other Nations along the Fraser River,” says Xwísten Chief Ina Williams via text. “There are many animals, four-legged and winged, that also rely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/fish-out-of-water-north-american-drought-bakes-salmon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/fish-out-of-water-north-american-drought-bakes-salmon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275630</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As sea lice feast away on dwindling salmon, First Nations decide the fate of salmon farms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/as-sea-lice-feast-away-on-dwindling-salmon-first-nations-decide-the-fate-of-salmon-farms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/as-sea-lice-feast-away-on-dwindling-salmon-first-nations-decide-the-fate-of-salmon-farms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jan 2023 19:05:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/23185143/49490017671_84b155fc7a_k-2-scaled-e1674500024973-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=264792</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[British Columbia and Canada]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Ecosystems, Fish, Fisheries, Food, Food Industry, Freshwater Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Mongabay Data Studio, Oceans, Parasites, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[VANCOUVER, Canada — Alongside the millions of Atlantic Salmon clustered in the open net pens that dot the waterways around Broughton Archipelago’s over 200 islands, sea lice, a tadpole-shaped parasite, feast on the fish. In the zeal to establish a salmon market northwest of Vancouver, Canada, many aquaculture companies set up open net pens—cage-like structures [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[VANCOUVER, Canada — Alongside the millions of Atlantic Salmon clustered in the open net pens that dot the waterways around Broughton Archipelago’s over 200 islands, sea lice, a tadpole-shaped parasite, feast on the fish. In the zeal to establish a salmon market northwest of Vancouver, Canada, many aquaculture companies set up open net pens—cage-like structures where a layer of fishnet separates the farmed salmon from those in the wild—in the 1980s. They were also, however, creating conducive conditions for the spread of sea lice, a blood-sucking parasite found on the aquatic animal. During one of their free-floating larval forms, sea lice attach to salmon, devouring their skin and sucking blood. In the Pacific waters, two species of sea lice are found—Caligus clemensi and Lepeophtheirus salmonis. Studies have shown that L. salmonis is abundant in pink salmon around salmon farms. Image credits by Sea Lice Research Centre. Every two years, wild adult pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) swim upstream from the oceans to the gravel beds of the many rivers and creeks where they lay eggs and die. After a few months, the eggs hatch and the young salmon, called smolts, make their way back to the open ocean. Image by Erector/Wikimedia Commons. By the early 2000s, communities living in the archipelago began noticing wild juvenile pink salmon—native fish of the Pacific Ocean that aren’t gathered in the pens—returning from their freshwater spawning grounds also infested with the lice. These fish were on their way to the ocean, swimming near the salmon farms and through the meandering inlets—a path&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/as-sea-lice-feast-away-on-dwindling-salmon-first-nations-decide-the-fate-of-salmon-farms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-264792</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Extinction not only threatens primates—their parasites are in danger, too</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/extinction-not-only-threatens-primates-their-parasites-are-in-danger-too/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/extinction-not-only-threatens-primates-their-parasites-are-in-danger-too/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Dec 2021 19:47:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[McKenzie Prillaman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/26211125/indonesia_sulawesi_170406-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249921</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Ecology, Environment, Extinction, Green, Invertebrates, Mammals, Monkeys, Parasites, and Primates]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Extinction threatens nearly half of all primate species, largely due to human activities. But alongside them, a hidden world of biodiversity also could disappear: parasites. Using computer modeling, researchers discovered that if all 108 threatened primate species vanish, so could 176 parasite species, according to a recent report in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Extinction threatens nearly half of all primate species, largely due to human activities. But alongside them, a hidden world of biodiversity also could disappear: parasites. Using computer modeling, researchers discovered that if all 108 threatened primate species vanish, so could 176 parasite species, according to a recent report in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Ecuadorian mantled howler (Alouatta palliata aequatorialis) juvenile male with botfly (Oestridae sp.) parasites in Gatun Lake, Panama. Photo by Charles J. Sharp, Sharp Photography and licensed under CC BY 4.0. Most people would rejoice after such a parasite purge. But these worms, bacteria, fungi, viruses and more actually play vital roles in our ecosystems. “Animals and parasites have been co-evolving for as long as we both existed,” said primatologist James Herrera of the Duke University Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina, lead author of the paper. For instance, the parasitic botfly burrows under the skin of its host—usually howler monkeys, but sometimes people—to lay its eggs. After they hatch, the larvae grow inside huge, bulbous cysts beneath the skin until they burst free. Botflies normally don’t harm animals seriously, but they occasionally kill their hosts or make it harder for them to escape predators—part of the natural control of a population&#8217;s numbers. Most parasites haven’t been studied in detail, so scientists don’t understand the consequences of losing them, said ecologist Rob Dunn of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, who was not involved in the study. The massive number of threatened primate species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/extinction-not-only-threatens-primates-their-parasites-are-in-danger-too/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249921</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Without room to expand, mountain gorillas’ population growth could backfire</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/without-room-to-expand-mountain-gorillas-population-growth-could-backfire/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/without-room-to-expand-mountain-gorillas-population-growth-could-backfire/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jun 2021 13:22:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ini Ekott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/29123114/Mountain-gorilla-family-VolcanoesNationalPark-Rwanda-2020-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244243</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Great Apes, Health, Mammals, Parasites, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mountain gorillas, one of the world’s endangered apes, appear be facing a fresh health threat after a successful conservation campaign saved them from looming extinction, a new study says. Thanks to intensive conservation efforts, the population of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) has risen to more than 1,000, up from 620 in 1989, according to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mountain gorillas, one of the world’s endangered apes, appear be facing a fresh health threat after a successful conservation campaign saved them from looming extinction, a new study says. Thanks to intensive conservation efforts, the population of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) has risen to more than 1,000, up from 620 in 1989, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. As a result, in 2018 the organization changed the conservation status of mountain gorillas from critically endangered to endangered. However, the habitat available to mountain gorillas has not expanded in tandem with population growth. The entirety of the species is confined to parks in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bounded by human settlements, the gorillas are unable to expand beyond these protected areas, leading to increasing population density. The study, led by biologist Klára J. Petrželková of the Czech Academy of Sciences, found that as the mountain gorilla density increased, populations have become more susceptible to health problems. After gastrointestinal diseases were reported in the primates, researchers examined the prevalence of two parasitic worms (helminths) — strongylids and tapeworms — and found the pattern of infection appears to be influenced by the age, location and group size of the gorillas. The findings, which the authors of the report say point to possible “side effects” of the conservation success, are expected to guide future conservation efforts and academic studies on gorillas. The mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) is a subspecies of the eastern gorilla and is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/without-room-to-expand-mountain-gorillas-population-growth-could-backfire/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/without-room-to-expand-mountain-gorillas-population-growth-could-backfire/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244243</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Captive lions kept in ‘stressful conditions’ create perfect recipe for disease, experts say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/captive-lions-kept-in-stressful-conditions-create-perfect-recipe-for-disease-experts-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/captive-lions-kept-in-stressful-conditions-create-perfect-recipe-for-disease-experts-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2021 14:07:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/08123454/Credit-Blood-Lions-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241464</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Bacteria, Big Cats, Captive Breeding, Cats, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Diseases, Lions, Pandemics, Parasites, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2019, animal welfare inspectors visited Pienika Farm, a captive-lion facility in the North West province of South Africa. They found sick lion after sick lion living in conditions inspectors described as “horrific.” Twenty-seven animals were severely infected with mange, a condition caused by parasitic mites, while cubs twitched in the dirt, suffering from neurological [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2019, animal welfare inspectors visited Pienika Farm, a captive-lion facility in the North West province of South Africa. They found sick lion after sick lion living in conditions inspectors described as “horrific.” Twenty-seven animals were severely infected with mange, a condition caused by parasitic mites, while cubs twitched in the dirt, suffering from neurological disorders. Dozens of lions were crammed into cages meant only to hold a few. Rotting food and feces littered the ground. These are the ideal conditions for pathogens to grow and spread, resulting in disease, says Louise de Waal, a wildlife conservationist and one of the directors of Blood Lions, a nonprofit organization launched after the release of the 2015 film Blood Lions. The spread of disease is not only dangerous for the lions (Panthera leo) themselves, she said, but there is a possibility that disease could spill over into the human population, threatening human health and even triggering future epidemics. According to a recent peer-reviewed paper co-authored by De Waal and other experts from Blood Lions and World Animal Protection, captive and wild lions are known to carry a total of 63 pathogens — including parasites, bacteria and viruses — and these can result in about 83 diseases and clinical symptoms. Some of these pathogens can be transmitted from lions to other species, including humans, the research says. A captive lion with no fur on its nose due to mange. Image by Louise de Waal. The Blood Lions team has identified five diseases as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/captive-lions-kept-in-stressful-conditions-create-perfect-recipe-for-disease-experts-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241464</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New parasitoid wasp species discovered in Amazon manipulate host behavior in ‘complex way’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/new-parasitoid-wasp-species-discovered-in-amazon-manipulate-hosts-behavior-in-complex-way/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/new-parasitoid-wasp-species-discovered-in-amazon-manipulate-hosts-behavior-in-complex-way/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Feb 2020 12:31:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/02/21121335/Acrotaphus-wasp_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=227316</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Environment, Insects, Parasites, Research, Species Discovery, Spiders, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have discovered 15 new wasp species in lowland Amazon rainforests and Andean cloud forests that parasitize spiders in a “complex way.” The discoveries were made by a research group with the Biodiversity Unit of Finland’s University of Turku, which has studied tropical parasitoid insect diversity for the past two decades, in collaboration with researchers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have discovered 15 new wasp species in lowland Amazon rainforests and Andean cloud forests that parasitize spiders in a “complex way.” The discoveries were made by a research group with the Biodiversity Unit of Finland’s University of Turku, which has studied tropical parasitoid insect diversity for the past two decades, in collaboration with researchers at Brazil’s Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA). The new species, all of which are wasps of the genus Acrotaphus that parasitize spiders, are described to science in a study published in the journal Zootaxa last month. “Acrotaphus wasps are fascinating because they are very sizeable parasitoids,” Diego Pádua, a postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study who has worked at the INPA and the Biodiversity Unit of the University of Turku, said in a statement. “The largest species can grow multiple centimetres in length and are also very colourful. Previously, only 11 species of the genus were known, so this new research gives significant new information on the diversity of insects in rain forests.” Female Acrotaphus wasps are known to attack spiders in their webs, temporarily paralyzing the arachnids with a venomous sting so they can lay a single egg on a spider. The wasp larva then hatches from the egg and gradually eats the spider before it pupates. Members of the genus Acrotaphus aren’t the only wasps that parasitize spiders. The genus Idris includes more than 300 species of wasps that parasitize spider eggs. But, showing just how little we know&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/new-parasitoid-wasp-species-discovered-in-amazon-manipulate-hosts-behavior-in-complex-way/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-227316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Meet the new parasitic wasp species named ‘Idris elba’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/meet-the-new-parasitic-wasp-species-named-idris-elba/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/meet-the-new-parasitic-wasp-species-named-idris-elba/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Nov 2019 16:40:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/11/21163029/idris-elba_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=224671</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Insects, Parasites, Research, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[British actor Idris Elba has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards in addition to being named one of the &#8220;Sexiest Men Alive.&#8221; Now he’s been awarded an accolade that even he probably never dared aspire to: a parasitic wasp has been named in his honor. The wasp was recently [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[British actor Idris Elba has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards in addition to being named one of the &#8220;Sexiest Men Alive.&#8221; Now he’s been awarded an accolade that even he probably never dared aspire to: a parasitic wasp has been named in his honor. The wasp was recently discovered in Guanajuato, Mexico and described to science in a paper published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research this week by a team of researchers with Mexico’s Colegio de Postgraduados, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and the Florida State Collection of Arthropods in the US. The genus Idris was first described in 1856 and today includes more than 300 species of wasp, all of which have only been known to parasitize spider eggs. Idris elba, on the other hand, was discovered in Mexico parasitizing the eggs of an invasive stink bug known as the bagrada bug (Bagrada hilaris), an invasive species native to Africa that is a major pest in India, southern Europe, southern Asia, and the Middle East. Bagrada bugs made their Western Hemisphere debut in 2008 when they were first sighted in Los Angeles, California, and have since become an important pest of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, and turnips in North and South America, having been spotted in Chile in 2016. Dr. Refugio Lomeli-Flores of the Colegio de Postgraduatos and his team were the first to observe an Idris elba individual emerging from a bagrada bug egg in Guanajuato, much to their surprise.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/meet-the-new-parasitic-wasp-species-named-idris-elba/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-224671</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mysterious plants that thrive in darkness, steal food: Q&#038;A with botanist Kenji Suetsugu</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/mysterious-plants-that-thrive-in-darkness-steal-food-qa-with-botanist-kenji-suetsugu/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/mysterious-plants-that-thrive-in-darkness-steal-food-qa-with-botanist-kenji-suetsugu/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2019 10:51:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/19064636/Thismia-abei-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=221463</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Japan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Forests, Green, Interviews, Orchids, Parasites, Plants, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Kenji Suetsugu is out looking for plants in Japan’s forests, he&#8217;s not looking for the usual green ones. Instead, on dark forest floors, where little light penetrates, Suetsugu painstakingly searches for tiny flowering plants that have more or less given up on photosynthesis and lack chlorophyll, the characteristic green pigment that helps plants make [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Kenji Suetsugu is out looking for plants in Japan’s forests, he&#8217;s not looking for the usual green ones. Instead, on dark forest floors, where little light penetrates, Suetsugu painstakingly searches for tiny flowering plants that have more or less given up on photosynthesis and lack chlorophyll, the characteristic green pigment that helps plants make their own food from sunlight. He’s drawn in particular to plants that are mycoheterotrophic: parasitic plants that take their quota of nutrition from networks of fungi under the forest floor, without giving anything back to the fungi. The problem, however, is that these plants are incredibly hard to find. They tend to stay hidden underground and show up above ground only to flower or fruit, barely peeking through the leaf litter. This means that pinpointing them requires top-notch plant identification skills, special forest-floor sleuthing abilities, the support of past experiences, and some chance encounters. For the past 10 years, Suetsugu, a botanist and associate professor at Japan’s Kobe University, has been on a mission to identify and document mycoheterotrophic plants across Japan’s forests. In his surveys he’s uncovered 10 previously undescribed species of these elusive plants. A few of these species are especially unique, Suetsugu says, such as the orchids that never bloom. Gastrodia amamiana is one such orchid species that Mongabay wrote about recently. The plant, known from the islands of Amami-Oshima and Tokunoshima, not only relies completely on fungi for nutrition, it produces flowers that never seem to open up. Flowers typically need to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/mysterious-plants-that-thrive-in-darkness-steal-food-qa-with-botanist-kenji-suetsugu/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-221463</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Slight warming could be enough to heighten risk of malaria: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/slight-warming-could-be-enough-to-heighten-risk-of-malaria-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/slight-warming-could-be-enough-to-heighten-risk-of-malaria-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jul 2019 13:11:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/04062338/Anopheles_stephensi.451000de17b34781b1390350bb6f0202-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=220192</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and East Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Ecology, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, Insects, Mosquitoes, Parasites, Planetary Health, Public Health, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Climate change could shift the calculus for reining in malaria, according to new research that suggests that infectious parasites can develop in mosquitoes more quickly at lower temperatures than scientists once thought. “Our study is the first since the 1930s to investigate the relationship between temperature and malaria parasite development,” Matthew Thomas, a professor of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Climate change could shift the calculus for reining in malaria, according to new research that suggests that infectious parasites can develop in mosquitoes more quickly at lower temperatures than scientists once thought. “Our study is the first since the 1930s to investigate the relationship between temperature and malaria parasite development,” Matthew Thomas, a professor of ecological entomology at Pennsylvania State University and one of the paper’s co-authors, said in a statement. That early research has guided scientists for decades, despite the fact that it rested on findings from a species of mosquito from Russia, which sits well outside the malaria-endemic tropics and subtropics. “Our results challenge this long-standing model in malaria biology,” Thomas added. A microscope view of the midgut of an A. stephensi mosquito infected with malaria parasites (the round circles). The researchers found that malaria parasites develop faster in mosquitoes at lower temperatures than previously thought. Image and caption courtesy of Penn State. Thomas and his colleagues, in a study published June 26 in the journal Biology Letters, focused their investigations on two species of mosquitos: Anopheles stephensi and Anopheles gambiae. A. stephensi&nbsp;and A. gambiae — actually a group, or “complex,” of nearly identical species — wreak havoc on human populations throughout their ranges in Asia and tropical Africa, passing along developed spores in their saliva. The “long-standing model” holds that parasites need nearly two months to mature at temperatures of 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s butting right up against the lifespan of mosquitoes, making it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/slight-warming-could-be-enough-to-heighten-risk-of-malaria-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-220192</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New species of pea-sized crab discovered — inside a mussel</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/new-species-of-pea-sized-crab-discovered-inside-a-mussel/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/new-species-of-pea-sized-crab-discovered-inside-a-mussel/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2016 11:56:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/11/28114556/pea-crab.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=191251</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania and Solomon Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Invertebrates, Oceans, Parasites, Species Discovery, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered a new species of tiny pea crab within a large date mussel collected in the Solomon Islands. Pea crabs — about the size of peas — are parasitic, living inside oysters, mussels, clams and other shellfish. They feed off the food filtered by the hosts, and rely on them for safety. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered a new species of tiny pea crab within a large date mussel collected in the Solomon Islands. Pea crabs — about the size of peas — are parasitic, living inside oysters, mussels, clams and other shellfish. They feed off the food filtered by the hosts, and rely on them for safety. The newly described pea crab, too, is a parasite, and lives inside the golden date mussel (Leiosolenus obesus), researchers report in a study published last month in the journal ZooKeys. Discoverers Peter Ng of the National University of Singapore, and Christopher Meyer of the U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, have named the new species Serenotheres janus after Janus, the Roman two-faced god because the crab has a large, overhanging plate covering its upper carapace, giving it an illusion of being two-faced. The new crab is the second known species within the pea crab genus Serenotheres that parasitize rock-boring mussels of the subfamily Lithophaginae, the researchers write. The genus was previously represented only by S. besutensis, which was reported from an unidentified species of mussel collected in live coral from an island off Peninsular Malaysia. The new crab species S. janus has a broader carapace than its relative and is cream-yellow in color. Both crabs have an additional large plate covering the upper side of their shell. But the purpose of the plate is still unknown, researchers say. The new pea crab species Serenotheres janus photographed in its host, date mussel Leiosolenus obesus. Photo credit: Zachariah Kobrinsky and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/new-species-of-pea-sized-crab-discovered-inside-a-mussel/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-191251</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Attack of the killer vines: lianas taking over forests in Panama</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/attack-of-the-killer-vines-lianas-taking-over-forests-in-panama/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/attack-of-the-killer-vines-lianas-taking-over-forests-in-panama/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2014 21:23:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jose Hong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/07/attack-of-the-killer-vines-lianas-taking-over-forests-in-panama/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, North America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Environment, Forests, Global Warming, Green, Parasites, Strange, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Global warming may be spurring liana growth, hindering forest carbon storage in Central America A worrying trend has emerged in tropical forests: lianas, woody long-stemmed vines, are increasingly displacing trees, thereby reducing forests’ overall ability to store carbon. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Stanford University and the University of Pittsburgh, and led by Dr. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Global warming may be spurring liana growth, hindering forest carbon storage in Central America A worrying trend has emerged in tropical forests: lianas, woody long-stemmed vines, are increasingly displacing trees, thereby reducing forests’ overall ability to store carbon. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Stanford University and the University of Pittsburgh, and led by Dr. Stefan A. Schnitzer, studied the impacts of liana-tree competition in central Panamanian treefall gaps. Treefall gaps, known as the “engines of regeneration” in tropical forests, are sites of high growth, carbon accumulation and tree recruitment. However, they are also sites of high liana-tree competition. The researchers studied 17 treefall gaps, regularly cutting all lianas in eight of the gaps while leaving the other nine to grow naturally, thus giving a basis for comparison between the two types of gaps. Lianas are woody vines, and are found in both temperate and tropical forests. Photo by Schnitzer et al. Three pieces of bad news The study, recently published in Ecology, found several detrimental effects of increased liana presence. First, lianas compete with trees for sunlight, soil, water and nutrients, negatively impacting the trees’ reproductive, growth and survival rates. At the end of the study, liana-free treefall gaps were found to have an average tree biomass of nearly three times that of gaps where lianas were allowed to grow naturally. Second, while lianas do have biomass, their presence in treefall gaps did not make up for the absence of trees. In fact, the lianas in the treefall gaps&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/attack-of-the-killer-vines-lianas-taking-over-forests-in-panama/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24938</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>They think, therefore they spread: plants can make complex conditional decisions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/they-think-therefore-they-spread-plants-can-make-complex-conditional-decisions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/they-think-therefore-they-spread-plants-can-make-complex-conditional-decisions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jul 2014 17:47:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrew Mann]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/07/they-think-therefore-they-spread-plants-can-make-complex-conditional-decisions/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and Germany]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Colonization, Environment, Evolution, Forests, Green, Insects, Parasites, Plants, and Strange]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Decision-making ability linked to success in colonizing new environments Strong memory, being able to predict the future, and acting based on one’s surroundings are traits typically associated only with the most advanced types of animals. However, a team of German and Dutch scientists from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the University of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Decision-making ability linked to success in colonizing new environments Strong memory, being able to predict the future, and acting based on one’s surroundings are traits typically associated only with the most advanced types of animals. However, a team of German and Dutch scientists from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the University of Göttingen found ecological evidence that plants also have these abilities. Their findings were recently published in The American Naturalist. The researchers made their discovery by studying the European barberry (Berberis vulgaris). Although becoming increasingly common in North America, the European barberry is native to European dry scrub and open forested lands. A close relative, the Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) has been spreading across Europe for the past 200 years, but not as fast as some botanists predicted. To find out why, the research team compared the two species and their responses to a shared parasite. European barberries (Berberis vulgaris) have spread throughout the world due, in part, to their ability to respond to different environmental conditions. A species of fruit fly relies on the seeds of either the European barberry or the Oregon grape for development. The flies lay their eggs within the fruit so that, once hatched, the larvae can feed on the seeds. Usually only one fly larva reaches full development within the fruit, but still damages many or all of the seeds. Each plant is equipped with the ability to abort seeds when in danger of an insect predator or even stressed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/they-think-therefore-they-spread-plants-can-make-complex-conditional-decisions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24977</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fly and wasp biodiversity in Peru linked to strange defense strategy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/fly-and-wasp-biodiversity-in-peru-linked-to-strange-defense-strategy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/fly-and-wasp-biodiversity-in-peru-linked-to-strange-defense-strategy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2014 18:07:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nicholas Barrett]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/06/fly-and-wasp-biodiversity-in-peru-linked-to-strange-defense-strategy/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Peru and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Biodiversity, Environment, Genetics, Green, Insects, Parasites, Strange, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fly immune system genes may have applications for virus research Entomologists working in Peru have revealed new and unprecedented layers of diversity amongst wasps and flies. The paper, published in the journal Science, also describes a unique phenomenon in which flies actually fight back and kill predatory parasitic wasps. Researchers Matthew Lewis and Marty Condon [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fly immune system genes may have applications for virus research Entomologists working in Peru have revealed new and unprecedented layers of diversity amongst wasps and flies. The paper, published in the journal Science, also describes a unique phenomenon in which flies actually fight back and kill predatory parasitic wasps. Researchers Matthew Lewis and Marty Condon collected 3,636 flowers from the edge of a Peruvian airstrip to analyze the relationships between Neotropical flies (Blepharoneura) and the deadly wasps that lay eggs inside them (Parasitoids). This reproductive adaptation has fascinated scientists for decades. Less studied is how prey species resist parasitization. A female Blepharoneura fly on a male Gurania spinulosa flower. Photo by Marty Condon. First, a wasp lays her eggs in a fly, usually after paralyzing it. Once the larvae hatch inside the host, they typically feed upon the living tissue. However, scientists believe a few species of topical fly have developed immune systems that kill off the larvae of certain species of wasp. Lewis and Condon examined the intricate ecosystem this creates, whereby different species of parasitic wasps must hunt for specific species of fly in which their larvae might survive. They found that these interactions have led to increased biodiversity in both parties. According to the researchers, plants also play a major role. “In this system, parasitoid [wasps] only look for prey on a particular species and sex of plant,” Condon told mongabay.com. “That means the flies that lay their eggs in a different species of flower escape the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/fly-and-wasp-biodiversity-in-peru-linked-to-strange-defense-strategy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25067</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wonderful Creatures: meet the animal that has evolved a cushy, worry-free life inside an octopus</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/wonderful-creatures-meet-the-animal-that-has-evolved-a-cushy-worry-free-life-inside-an-octopus/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/wonderful-creatures-meet-the-animal-that-has-evolved-a-cushy-worry-free-life-inside-an-octopus/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jan 2014 14:07:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ross Piper]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/01/wonderful-creatures-meet-the-animal-that-has-evolved-a-cushy-worry-free-life-inside-an-octopus/</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Ecology, Environment, Green, Invertebrates, Marine, Marine Animals, Microorganisms, Molluscs, Oceans, Parasites, Science, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The range of habitats that animals have come to occupy is nothing short of staggering. Take the dicyemids for example. They are among the simplest animals on the planet, with a tiny, worm-like adult body that consists of between 10 and 40 cells. They have no organs, body cavities or even guts&#8212;a structural simplicity which [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The range of habitats that animals have come to occupy is nothing short of staggering. Take the dicyemids for example. They are among the simplest animals on the planet, with a tiny, worm-like adult body that consists of between 10 and 40 cells. They have no organs, body cavities or even guts&#8212;a structural simplicity which is a consequence of where and how they live. The only place you will find adult dicyemids is inside the bodies of cephalopods, typically octopuses and cuttlefish where large numbers of them cling to the inner wall of the mollusc&#8217;s kidney. Now, as habitats go, this is pretty weird and you are probably thinking that these tiny, very simple animals must be parasites. But this is where it gets really odd because it seems dicyemids actually benefit their host by helping it get rid of harmful metabolic waste products as well as improving the flow of urine through the kidney. Illustration showing an adult dicyemid. Within the long, central cell new individuals are forming. At the anterior end (top) is the calotte&#8212;a specialized group of cells for clinging to the inner wall of the host&#8217;s kidney. Photo by: ©Phil Miller. This incredible relationship illustrates two very interesting points. Firstly, parasitism can be part of a spectrum of interactions with commensalism and mutualism at each extreme. The dicyemids’ ancestors, very likely annelid-like creatures, probably started living with and then taking advantage of cephalopods. But over huge stretches of time, what was once a parasitic relationship has&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/wonderful-creatures-meet-the-animal-that-has-evolved-a-cushy-worry-free-life-inside-an-octopus/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25761</doi>				</item>
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