The extinction of parasites

This seemed like a worthwhile Halloween post... something to scare the shit out of us all. If you want to scare yourself, Google parasites in the images section. You will want to vomit. I therefore picked a photograph of parasite pancakes - some very creative person created the images of some parasites out of pancakes. (Is it real, or a picture, I don't know...)

In any event, all those unintended consequences of the things we do. But then again, I believe I heard there have been six major extinctions on the planet earth... so we'll be just one more as parasites either take over or allow other creatures to take over.

Humorous image taken from here.

Climate change could wipe out up to one-third of the Earth’s 3.5 million known parasite species over the next 53 years. That might sound like a good thing, but scientists warn that the extinction of pests such as tapeworms, fleas, and ticks could dramatically alter the delicate balance of ecosystems around the world, The New York Times reports. An international team of scientists mapped the global distribution and habitats of 457 different species of parasites and analyzed how climate change could affect them. Up to 30 percent of parasite species, they concluded, may be extinct by 2070. A mass die-off could produce many undesirable consequences: Where parasites help control their hosts’ populations, those populations could grow out of control, the way deer did when wolves left their habitats. Other parasites might flourish in the absence of competition. Still others could migrate to new ecosystems, invading new species. An example: the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus spreading north into the U.S. Colin Carlson, lead author of the study, said parasites are “a huge and important part of ecosystems,” and warned that extinctions will have consequences we can’t foresee.

Taken from the same edition of The Week as yesterday - September 29, 2017.