Two recent papers published by members of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) have questioned our traditional perception of intestinal parasites. The first, published July 14, 2014 in Trends in Parasitology is a systematic review of cases where humans have deliberately ingested parasites for research and suggests that certain parasites could have beneficial effects on conditions […]
Tag: parasites
Sea lice have unexpected effect on chum salmon
Fisheries data from British Columbia show that when sea lice infest populations of pink and coho salmon, their productivity suffers. Surprisingly, this correlation is not present for chum salmon, which are less popular among predators. A new study uses mathematical models to explore one possible explanation: by slowing down all species, sea lice provide predators […]
Parasitic wasps fight cabbage pests
The larvae of the invasive Diamondback Moth are a major pest of garden plants like cabbage and broccoli and have become resistant to many pesticides. One alternative is biological control: parasitic wasps lay eggs in the caterpillars which hatch into larvae that devour the caterpillars from the inside. A new paper by a Canadian high […]
