Biodiversity, evolution and ecology of ectoparasites

讨论虱子、跳蚤和蜱虫通常会让人感到厌恶。然而，寄生虫在动物物种中占很大比例，对野生动物、家畜和人类的健康和表现有相当大的影响。当我开始我的工作时，在加拿大记录的咀嚼虱不到300种，其中许多被错误地识别并与错误的宿主物种联系在一起。关于侵染参数的信息很少。我仅在曼尼托巴省就记录了300多种虱子，通过对300多种虱子的7000多个寄主的检查。通过检查从野生动物康复医院抢救出来的宿主，我编制了一个关于宿主特异性、流行率和感染强度、性别比例和每种虱子物种及其相关宿主的种群结构的数据库。

Discussion about lice, fleas and ticks typically causes people to cringe with disgust. However, parasites constitute a great proportion of animal species and have considerable potential to impact fitness and performance in wildlife, domestic animals and humans. When I started my work, there were fewer than 300 species of chewing lice recorded in Canada, many of which were misidentified and associated with incorrect host species. There was little information on infestation parameters. I have recorded more than 300 species of lice from Manitoba alone, through examination of more than 7,000 individual hosts of more than 300 species. By examining hosts salvaged from wildlife rehabilitation hospitals, I have compiled a database on host specificity, prevalence and intensity of infestation, sex ratios, and population structure for each louse species, for each of their associated hosts.