Models of coextinction identify parasites as one of the most menaced ecological groups. The number of host species a parasite uses should strongly affect its risk of coextinction. The naïve expectation is that the lower the number, the higher is the parasite's risk of being left with no hosts. Here we analyse the coextinction risk of 12,141 fish parasite species and find that highly specific parasites are not the most endangered, because they tend to use hosts with low vulnerability to extinction. This unexpected result may explain why the number of documented host-parasite coextinctions is much lower than predicted by theoretical studies. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Strona, G., Galli, P., Fattorini, L. (2013). Fish parasites resolve the paradox of missing coextinctions. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 4 [10.1038/ncomms2723].

Fish parasites resolve the paradox of missing coextinctions

STRONA, GIOVANNI
Primo
;
GALLI, PAOLO
Secondo
;
FATTORINI, LUCA
Ultimo
2013

Abstract

Models of coextinction identify parasites as one of the most menaced ecological groups. The number of host species a parasite uses should strongly affect its risk of coextinction. The naïve expectation is that the lower the number, the higher is the parasite's risk of being left with no hosts. Here we analyse the coextinction risk of 12,141 fish parasite species and find that highly specific parasites are not the most endangered, because they tend to use hosts with low vulnerability to extinction. This unexpected result may explain why the number of documented host-parasite coextinctions is much lower than predicted by theoretical studies. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Models of coextinction
English
2013
4
1718
none
Strona, G., Galli, P., Fattorini, L. (2013). Fish parasites resolve the paradox of missing coextinctions. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 4 [10.1038/ncomms2723].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/62780
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