Biodiversity, evolution and ecology of ectoparasites

关于虱子、跳蚤和蜱虫的讨论通常会让人们感到厌恶。然而，寄生虫在动物物种中占很大比例，并有相当大的潜力影响野生动物，家畜和人类的健康和表现。 当我开始我的工作时，在加拿大记录的咀嚼虱不到300种，其中许多被错误识别并与不正确的宿主物种相关联。 关于侵染参数的信息很少。 通过对300多个物种的7,000多个个体宿主的检查，我仅在马尼托巴就记录了300多种虱子。 通过检查从野生动物康复医院抢救的主机，我已经编制了一个数据库的主机特异性，患病率和强度的侵扰，性别比例，和人口结构的每种虱子，为每个相关的主机。

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.