DBI—2333910: Lions and tiger sharks, and hares…oh my! Stabilizing and providing digital access to eight decades of parasites from vertebrates. $696,447 awarded in 2024 to Drs. Janine Caira, Katrina Menard & Bernard Goffinet.

Team member: Dr. Veronica Bueno (Parasitologist and Curatorial Postdoc).

Overview

This project focuses on nine historical collections of vertebrate metazoan parasites donated to UConn’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology’s Biodiversity Research Collection facility over the past two decades. These collections are the result of 80 years of fieldwork by expert parasitologists and students. The collections comprise 113,800 microscope slides, 13,850 vials, and 528 jars of fluid-preserved specimens complemented by 10,479 necropsy sheets and cards detailing host specimen data. Hosts include at least 716 species in 430 genera representing 74 vertebrate orders. The three most speciose phyla of vertebrate parasites (i.e., Platyhelminthes, Arthropoda, and Nematoda) are represented. We have focused our immediate efforts on stabilization and curation, which has revealed the scope of curatorial work needed to showcase these unique collections. Over 3,500 slides need remounting, 3,200 slides need their labels to be re-attached, and 9,520 vials must be replaced with archival vials and lids. We also now recognize the magnitude of manpower required to properly accession and digitize the approximately 128,000 specimens and containers. We are seeking funds to complete these tasks. The full curation of these unique collections and dissemination of all their data publicly through the Lawrence R. Penner Parasitology portal, iDigBio, and GBIF, will make it possible for these irreplaceable collections to achieve their full potential as a resource for discovering novelty and exploring a wide array of questions about the ecology and evolution of vertebrate parasites.

Intellectual Merit

The hosts of these parasites span the vertebrate tree of life, and most would be difficult or nearly impossible to sample for parasites today. For example, many are now protected under CITES or IUCN Red List regulations. A large proportion of the parasites are unidentified, and many come from host taxa that have rarely or never been examined, thus the potential for novelty is high. Highlights include parasites from teleosts in the deep-water canyons off the western Atlantic Ocean, digeneans from bats of eastern Africa, parasites collected from teleosts in fish markets of San Francisco annually over a period of 40 years, and what is arguably the most comprehensive collection of parasites from the vertebrates of New England. The breadth of parasite taxa makes these collections an unparalleled and irreplaceable source of data for advancing our understanding of patterns and processes of coevolution. Their historical nature makes them especially valuable as a source of data for exploring changes in parasite faunas over time. The expert parasitologists who assembled these collections intuitively embraced the concept of the “extended specimen” decades ago. As a result, the six largest of the nine collections have extensive and extremely fine-grained associated host data, making them also invaluable resources for addressing a variety of fundamental ecological questions about parasite communities at multiple levels. With the assistance of UConn’s Information Technology Services, we will modify the existing LRP database to include a host necropsy data module and to share data with iDigBio and GBIF, providing access to these collections and their associated data to researchers throughout the globe.

Broader Impacts

Digitization and sharing data on-line will facilitate access to these nine collections, as well as data for the 5,900+ specimens (40% paratypes; 20% molecular vouchers) already in the LRP by the broader scientific community. One Curatorial Postdoctoral Fellow, six BS/MS, and 22 undergraduate students will receive training. The Connecticut State Parasite Initiative, which will take the form of a competition, is aimed at enlightening middle school students about the diversity and marvelous biology of parasites and the value of the museum collections to the discovery and study of the biology of these animals. In collaboration with the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, an online resource will be created to provide information on 25 iconic Connecticut vertebrate species, and four of their parasites, each represented by specimens in the focus collections. Classes of middle school students will be challenged to select a parasite of interest and make a case for their species to be designated as Connecticut’s State Parasite. The most convincing case will be determined through a two-phase selection process, ending in a widely publicized public vote to draw attention to the initiative. Students will learn about the legislative process required to transform an idea to a Bill and finally to a Law, if such a designation is to be achieved, through a virtual conversation with a Political Scientist and a Connecticut State Legislator.