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Maybe you’re not. Research on water fleas has shown that infectious disease parasites are better equipped to adapt to climate change than their hosts.
A host of complications could arise from accelerating climate change. Already an unpredictable phenomenon, event chains created by fluctuating temperatures creating dynamic responses in natural systems create unpredictable events.
Researchers at Trinity College(Dublin, Ireland), examined the effects temperature variation on infections Daphnia magnaA species of water flea called the “Water Flea” and its gut parasite, Ordospora colligata. They used one constant temperature regime and two variable temperature regimes, fluctuating 3°C in either direction, in addition to 3-day heatwaves of 6°C above normal. They studied the effects on D. magna’s lifespan, fertility, infection status and parasite spore count, outputting the data into a statistical model for analysis of the three separate temperate regimes.
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The results were published in eLifeThe parasite was able to tolerate temperature fluctuations better than its water flea host. While daily fluctuations reduced by 5°C, the upper bounds at which O. colligataInfectivity was more successful than with constant temperatures. However, the effects of heatwaves upon the parasite were fascinating. Infectivity of disease was almost unchanged after a heatwave in comparison to constant-temperature conditions. In addition, following the 3-day heatwave events, spore count in water fleas increased when the ambient temperature was maintained at 16°C. Higher temperatures saw a decrease in this number. By contrast, the host’s fitness and reproductive success suffered in conjunction with spore exposure or variable temperatures.
This suggests that host-pathogen interactions could be affected by rising temperatures and extreme weather events caused by climate change. The study shows that temperature variation can have equally variable effects on the optimal environment temperature and ambient temperature for parasites.
Co-first author Pepijn Luijckx summarized: “Our findings show that temperature variation alters the outcome of host-pathogen interactions in complex ways. Temperature variation not only affects different host and disease traits in a unique way, but also the type and average temperature at which it is applied matters. This means that changing patterns of climate variation, superimposed on shifts in mean temperatures due to global warming, may have profound and unanticipated effects on disease dynamics.”
Their study puts yet more emphasis on the planet’s ecological interconnectivity, highlighting the destabilizing effects of climate change across complex global networks of interdependent systems. There is increasing evidence that it is not possible for one system to be affected in isolation. The knock-on effects can be seen in one system chaining to its related systems.
