S1 Parasites in marine systems

  R. POULIN -  L.H. CHAPPELL

Preface

The sea is the last frontier for . The oceans Poulin) and in the Baltic Sea, where anthropogenic are not only a major source of food for much of environmental changes are known to affect parasites humanity, they are also the repository of most of the (Zander & Reimer). The importance of parasites in Earth’s . We know relatively little about becomes clear when they are introduced the interactions among their inhabitants, however, to new areas; Torchin et al. examine the impact of and this is especially true with respect to parasitic introduced parasites on native ecosystems, and the . This supplement consists of 12 review role played by parasites in determining the invasion articles, written by international experts, each sum- success of exotic, non-parasitic species. The ubiqui- marising and synthesising the available information tous of parasites in marine systems means that on key aspects of the of marine parasites. they will have commercial importance in fisheries The topics included cover the and and . On the positive side, they can be of marine -parasite associations, as well used as biological tags for stock discrimination, as as applied aspects of marine with highlighted by MacKenzie. On the negative side, commercial repercussions. Hoberg & Klassen and many parasites are serious of commer- Cribb et al. begin by looking at the co-evolution and cially important host species; the supplement ends of host-parasite associations in dif- with two case studies of parasites with major impacts ferent marine systems. An evolutionary perspective on their hosts, lice (Tully & Nolan) and is necessary to understand how assemblages of sealworm (McClelland). different parasite species have come to share the I thank the contributors for their efforts in putting same hosts, but it is ecological processes that together this collection of up-to-date reviews. I must determine the structure of these assemblages. The also acknowledge the 23 referees (the 5 who are next two papers examine the species interactions and themselves contributors and the 18 others who are structure of parasite assemblages in the two best- not) who put in some time to improve the reviews, studied marine host-parasite systems: larval trem- and Les Chappell, the co-ordinating editor, who atodes in gastropods (Curtis), and ectoparasites on very efficiently oversaw the whole project. As a fish (Morand et al.). Fish ectoparasites are unusual in whole, the reviews in this supplement present an that they are subjected to predation by cleaner easy-to-read, comprehensive account of recent ad- organisms, and thus are at the basis of one of the vances in the study of marine parasites. I hope that best-known marine symbioses; Grutter takes a look they will stimulate students and professional scien- at these cleaning symbioses from the parasites’ tists interested in parasitology, fisheries, marine perspective. ecology, and biology, and On a larger scale, parasites are fundamental , to pursue the many open components of marine food webs and ecosystems. questions still left to be tackled. Marcogliese discusses the transmission patterns of parasites in marine food webs. His paper is followed ROBERT POULIN by two reviews of the impact of on marine January 2002 ecosystems: in intertidal (Mouritsen &

Downloaded fromParasitology https://www.cambridge.org/core(2002), 124,S1.. IP address:" 2002 170.106.33.19 Cambridge, on University24 Sep 2021 at Press 15:50:28, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003118200200166X DOI: 10.1017\S003118200200166X Printed in the United Kingdom