Where Are the Parasites? [Letters]

Authors

Susan J. Kutz, University of CalgaryFollow
Andy P. Dobson, Princeton UniversityFollow
Eric P. Hoberg, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research ServiceFollow

Date of this Version

11-27-2009

Citation

Science (November 27, 2009) 326: 1,187-1,188.

Comments

U.S. government work.

Abstract

First paragraph:

The review by E. Post et al. ("Ecological dynamics across the Arctic associated with recent climate change," 11 September 2009, p. 1,355) paid little heed to parasites and other pathogens. The rapidly growing literature on parasites in arctic and subarctic ecosystems provides empirical and observational evidence that climate-linked changes have already occurred. The life cycle of the protostrongylid lungworm of muskoxen, Umingmakstrongylus pallikuukensis, has changed, and the range of that organism and the winter tick, Dermacentor albipictus, has expanded.