Biology subjects

Parker, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Parker, E..

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Using Community Science and eDNA to Inform a State-Designed Marine Protected Area Monitoring Program: A Case Study from Malibu, California

Management of marine protected areas (MPAs) require long-term monitoring and evaluation that is often limited by the cost and effort of conventional visual based surveys. We evaluated a community science-based eDNA approach to MPA monitoring over two years in the Point Dume State Marine Reserve, the Point Dume State Marine Conservation Area, and two paired unprotected reference sites. Across the sampling period, we detected 119 species of fish and marine mammals, including 19 of the 22 regional management-priority species for Southern CA MPAs. Protected and unprotected comparison sites were broadly similar in overall assemblage with 93 species shared across all sites. Multivariate analyses revealed site-level differences, although season and year explained more variation than protection status. Species presence also shifted during a La-Nina transition, highlighting the importance of long-term monitoring under different climatological contexts. Community scientists greatly expanded the temporal and spatial scope of eDNA sampling and generated high-quality data. Subsampling analysis showed that quarterly sampling, with three sample replicates and sequencing depths between 700k-990k, recovered 95% of observed biodiversity of the full time series. These results demonstrate that a community science-based eDNA program could provide a standardized, scalable, low-cost, and management-relevant approach for long-term monitoring across California's MPA network.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Voice and linguistic features support early attentional filtering of irrelevant stimuli

In cocktail party-type environments, listeners must segregate simultaneous acoustic sources and select one for processing. Behavioral studies have established that both low-level voice differences (e.g., pitch) and high-level linguistic differences (e.g., word content) aid these processes. Electroencephalography (EEG) studies have demonstrated that the brain filters voices based on low-level features early in sensory processing, but it is unclear whether linguistic differences also support early filtering. In this EEG study, listeners attended to a lateralized auditory stream of target syllables while ignoring distractor stimuli from the opposite hemifield. In contrast to previous auditory attention studies, target stimuli were always attended and statistically identical across conditions; instead, we manipulated the distractors. Specifically, we manipulated whether targets and distractors were spoken in the same voice or different voices, as well as whether they were composed of the same or different linguistic content. Critically, distractors were temporally offset from targets, enabling an investigation of whether acoustically matched, always attended target stimuli are differentially encoded as a function of surrounding context. Differences in either voice or linguistic features supported target recall: Recall was poor only when both streams were in the same voice and had similar linguistic content. However, voice and linguistic features had independent, additive effects on neural processing. Specifically, target dissimilarity in acoustics and linguistic content both contributed to more robust, larger-magnitude target-evoked EEG responses. Overall, results demonstrate that both linguistic dissimilarity and low-level acoustic dissimilarity improve early attentional filtering of distractors in multi-source acoustic scenes.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

The AvianMetaNetwork: biotic interactions among birds of the continental United States and Canada

All organisms interact with other organisms, directly, and indirectly through different ecological relationships involving multiple types of interactions. Yet at broad continental scales, we lack comprehensive information on biotic interactions, which has hindered our ability to answer macroecological and eco-evolutionary questions across scales and to fully quantify the diversity of biotic interactions as an important dimension of biodiversity. Here, we help fill these gaps with an open and comprehensive dataset and data workflow of 25,907 pairwise, directional interspecific interactions among birds spanning a continental scale. All data are empirically documented and comprise bird-bird interactions across both breeding and non-breeding ranges of 731 focal avian taxa, covering all birds in the focal region of Canada and the continental United States, including Alaska. These data also include 1,258 additional avian taxa interacting with the focal taxa outside the focal region, resulting in 1,989 avian taxa altogether. The continental scale and breadth of interspecific interactions within these data fill fundamental knowledge gaps and enable scientists and practitioners to address a myriad of questions at broader scales than were previously possible.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Environmental Regulation and Gene-by-Environment Interaction Influence RAP1 Activity and its Impact on Gene Expression

Gene-by-environment (GxE) interactions play a major role in shaping both phenotypic and molecular variation, with important implications for human health and disease. In this study, we used the Doxycycline (Dox) regulated, tetracycline-responsive (Tet-Off) promoter system to sequentially reduce or titrate gene expression levels of the essential yeast transcription factor Repressor Activator Protein 1 (RAP1) similar to a hypomorph allele series, across three distinct environments: Yeast Peptone Dextrose (YPD) media, YPD media with Heat Shock (HS), and Yeast Peptone Acetate (YPAC) media. We then performed RNA sequencing (RNA Seq) to assess global transcriptional responses to RAP1 reduction in these different growth environments. Our analysis first focused on the independent effects of varying RAP1 expression levels within and across environments. We then explored GxE interactions, revealing a subset of genes with significant consequences of reduced levels of RAP1 and environment-specific expression patterns. Notably, many genes exhibited opposite effects of RAP1 titration on gene expression when yeast were grown in YPAC media compared to YPD media and/or HS, suggesting environment-dependent regulatory architecture. This design reveals how cells integrate internal transcriptional and regulatory changes with external environmental cues, providing a deeper view of GxE architecture. Using Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA), we identified co-regulated gene modules, and by combining this with transcription factor motif enrichment tests, our study identified candidate regulators driving their dynamics. Our findings demonstrate that gene regulatory networks can vary dramatically depending on the environmental context an organism experiences, which can then influence the specific phenotypes produced by a particular genetic perturbation. This illustrates the complexity of genotype-environment interactions and the importance of studying gene function in multiple environments to gain a truly comprehensive understanding of a genes sometimes numerous and diverse functions.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2026

Acoustic Salience Drives Pupillary Dynamics in an Interrupted, Reverberant Task

Listeners face many challenges when trying to maintain attention to a target source in everyday settings; for instance, reverberation distorts acoustic cues and interruptions capture attention. However, little is known about how these challenges affect the ability to maintain selective attention. Here, we measured syllable recall accuracy and pupil dilation during a spatial selective attention task that was sometimes disrupted. Participants heard two competing, temporally interleaved syllable streams presented in pseudo-anechoic or reverberant environments. On randomly selected trials, a sudden interruption occurred mid-sequence. Compared to anechoic trials, reverberant performance was worse overall, and the interrupter disrupted performance. In uninterrupted trials, reverberation reduced peak pupil dilation both when it was consistent across all stimuli in a block and when it was randomized trial to trial, suggesting temporal smearing reduced clarity of the scene and the salience of events in the ongoing streams. Pupil dilations in response to interruptions indicated perceptual salience was strong across reverberant and anechoic conditions. Specifically, baseline pupil size before trials did not vary across room conditions, and mixing or blocking of trials (altering stimulus expectations) had no impact on pupillary responses. Together, these findings highlight that stimulus salience drives cognitive load more strongly than does task performance.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Myofibroblast lineage mapping and inhibiting subretinal fibrosis by targeting SMAD3 and MRTF pathways via microRNA-24 functional study

Subretinal fibrosis underlies the end-stage pathogenesis of retinal diseases including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). It can disrupt retinal structure and eventually lead to legal blindness by generating contractile force, fibrotic scarring, subretinal hemorrhage, and retinal detachment. Myofibroblasts are the predominant cells critically involved in subretinal fibrosis, however, the cellular contribution to myofibroblasts remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that multiple cell lineages, including macrophages, endothelial cells (EC), retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and pericytes, significantly contribute to myofibroblasts in a laser-induced subretinal fibrosis model. We found microRNA miR-24 is significantly downregulated in the plasma of wet AMD patients. Overexpression of miR-24 represses epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndMT), and the resulting fibrosis by regulating TGF-{beta}/SMAD3 and PAK4/LIMK2/MRTF pathways. Consistently, a combination of SMAD3 and MRTF inhibitors show superior efficacy to individual inhibitors in repressing fibrosis in vitro and laser-induced subretinal fibrosis in vivo. Together, these suggest the contribution of multiple cell-types in myofibroblast transformation in subretinal fibrosis, and repression of miR-24-regulated TGF-{beta}/SMAD3 and PAK4/LIMK2/MRTF pathways in multiple cell types holds therapeutic potential for treating subretinal fibrosis in AMD and other fibrotic disorders.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Delphy: scalable, near-real-time Bayesian phylogenetics for outbreaks

Pathogen genomic analysis is central to tracking, understanding, and containing outbreaks, but complexity and high costs of state-of-the-art (SOTA) phylogenetic tools limit global access and impact. We introduce Delphy, an exact reformulation of Bayesian phylogenetics designed to transform its speed, scalability and accessibility while retaining SOTA accuracy. Delphys central data structure, an Explicit Mutation Annotated Tree, exploits the high sequence similarity in large-scale epidemic datasets for efficient tree exploration and convergence. By reproducing key analyses from recent major epidemics (Ebola, Zika, SARS-CoV-2, mpox, and H5N1), we demonstrate SOTA accuracy with up to 1,000x speedups. Assessing Delphys scalability, we show that a simulated dataset of 100,000 sequences can be analyzed in under a day-the largest such computation to date. We distribute Delphy as a client-side web application, enabling users worldwide to turn raw data into interactive results within minutes, without the data ever leaving the users machine. Delphy automatically identifies key viral lineages and mutations, as well as their emergence and prevalence through time, all with quantified uncertainties derived from a solid theoretical foundation. Delphy shows the power of Bayesian phylogenetics as a fast, accessible frontline tool for tackling future outbreaks.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2025

The human RIF1-Long isoform interacts with BRCA1 to promote recombinational fork repair under DNA replication stress

RIF1 is a multifunctional protein that regulates DNA replication and repair. RIF1-deficient cells are hypersensitive to DNA replication stress. Of the two alternatively spliced RIF1 isoforms, called RIF1-Short and RIF1-Long, the RIF1-Long isoform is more capable than RIF1-Short in supporting cell recovery from replication stress. Examining replication stress resistance mechanisms specific to RIF1-Long, we find that prolonged replication stress unexpectedly induces interaction of RIF1-Long with BRCA1. Mechanistically, a phosphorylated SPKF motif unique to the RIF1-Long isoform binds the tandem BRCT domain of BRCA1. BRCA1-RIF1-Long interaction is strongly down-regulated through dephosphorylation by RIF1-associated Protein Phosphatase 1. BRCA1-RIF1-Long interaction requires ATR signaling, and occurs predominantly during S phase. Loss of RIF1-Long impairs the formation of RAD51 foci, and reduces the efficiency of homology-mediated repair at broken replication forks. In summary, our investigation establishes RIF1-Long as a new functional binding partner of the BRCA1-BRCT domain, crucial to protect cells from extended DNA replication stress by enabling RAD51-dependent repair of broken replication forks.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Dynamics of natural selection preceding human viral epidemics and pandemics.

Using a phylogenetic framework to characterize natural selection, we investigate the hypothesis that zoonotic viruses require adaptation prior to zoonosis to sustain human-to-human transmission. Examining the zoonotic emergence of Ebola virus, Marburg virus, influenza A virus, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2, we find no evidence of a change in the intensity of natural selection immediately prior to a host switch, compared with typical selection within reservoir hosts. We conclude that extensive pre-zoonotic adaptation is not necessary for human-to-human transmission of zoonotic viruses. In contrast, the reemergence of H1N1 influenza A virus in 1977 showed a change in selection, consistent with the hypothesis of passage in a laboratory setting prior to its reintroduction into the human population, purportedly during a vaccine trial. Holistic phylogenetic analysis of selection regimes can be used to detect evolutionary signals of host switching or laboratory passage, providing insight into the circumstances of past and future viral emergence.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Paroxysmal Slow Wave Events as a diagnostic and predictive biomarker for post-traumatic epilepsy

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major global health concern, affecting more than 40 million people annually. While most cases are mild and present with light symptoms, repeated mild injuries can result in delayed brain pathologies, including cognitive decline, neuropsychiatric complications, and post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE). PTE refers to recurring, unprovoked seizures occurring at least one week after TBI. While the link between moderate to severe TBI and PTE is well established, the epileptogenesis after repetitive mild TBI (rmTBI) is seldom studied. Currently, there are no biomarkers to identify those at risk of developing PTE, and its diagnosis is challenging. Here, we used a rat model to study PTE following rmTBI and assessed human EEG data to identify potential biomarkers for PTE. We employed a closed head TBI model to induce rmTBI, and recorded brain activity using electrocorticography (ECoG) between 2- and 6-months post-injury. Behavioral assessments and post-mortem analysis were also conducted. In humans, we analyzed EEG recordings from the Temple University database to investigate the potential of EEG-derived features for diagnosing PTE. At 6 months post injury, 70% of rmTBI animals developed PTE, compared to 22% in the control group (P=0.01). While neurological assessments following injury did not predict PTE, paroxysmal slow wave events (PSWEs) were found to be a reliable biomarker for PTE prediction. In humans, the percentage time in PSWEs was significantly elevated in PTE patients with epileptiform activity. In conclusion, we suggest PSWEs as a non-invasive, cost-effective biomarker for PTE in rodents and human patients.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

The recency and geographical origins of the bat viruses ancestral to SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2

The emergence of SARS-CoV in 2002 and SARS-CoV-2 in 2019 has led to increased sampling of related sarbecoviruses circulating primarily in horseshoe bats. These viruses undergo frequent recombination and exhibit spatial structuring across Asia. Employing recombination-aware phylogenetic inference on bat sarbecoviruses, we find that the closest-inferred bat virus ancestors of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 existed just [~]1-3 years prior to their emergence in humans. Phylogeographic analyses examining the movement of related sarbecoviruses demonstrate that they traveled at similar rates to their horseshoe bat hosts and have been circulating for thousands of years in Asia. The closest-inferred bat virus ancestor of SARS-CoV likely circulated in western China, and that of SARS-CoV-2 likely circulated in a region comprising southwest China and northern Laos, both a substantial distance from where they emerged. This distance and recency indicate that the direct ancestors of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 could not have reached their respective sites of emergence via the bat reservoir alone. Our recombination-aware dating and phylogeographic analyses reveal a more accurate inference of evolutionary history than performing only whole-genome or single gene analyses. These results can guide future sampling efforts and demonstrate that viral genomic fragments extremely closely related to SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 were circulating in horseshoe bats, confirming their importance as the reservoir species for SARS viruses.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Phylodynamics Uncovers the Transmission of Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli between Canines and Humans in an Urban Environment

The role of canines in transmitting antibiotic resistant bacteria to humans in the urban environment is poorly understood. To elucidate this role, we utilized genomic sequencing and phylogenetics to characterize the burden and transmission dynamics of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli (ABR-Ec) cultured from canine and human feces present on urban sidewalks in San Francisco, California. We collected a total of fifty-nine ABR-Ec from human (n=12) and canine (n=47) fecal samples from the Tenderloin and South of Market (SoMa) neighborhoods of San Francisco. We then analyzed phenotypic and genotypic antibiotic resistance (ABR) of the isolates, as well as clonal relationships based on cgMLST and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the core genomes. Using Bayesian inference, we reconstructed the transmission dynamics between humans and canines from multiple local outbreak clusters using the marginal structured coalescent approximation (MASCOT). Overall, we found human and canine samples to carry similar amounts and profiles of ABR genes. Our results provide evidence for multiple transmission events of ABR-Ec between humans and canines. In particular, we found one instance of likely transmission from canines to humans as well as an additional local outbreak cluster consisting of one canine and one human sample. Based on this analysis, it appears that canine feces act as an important reservoir of clinically relevant ABR-Ec within the urban environment. Our findings support that public health measures should continue to emphasize proper canine feces disposal practices, access to public toilets and sidewalk and street cleaning. Importance: Antibiotic resistance in E. coli is a growing public health concern with global attributable deaths projected to reach millions annually. Current research has focused heavily on clinical routes of antibiotic resistance transmission to design interventions while the role of alternative reservoirs such as domesticated animals remain less well understood. Our results suggest canines are part of the transmission network that disseminates high-risk multidrug resistance in E. coli within the urban San Francisco community. As such, this study highlights the need to consider canines, and potentially domesticated animals more broadly, when designing interventions to reduce the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in the community. Additionally, it showcases the utility of genomic epidemiology to reconstruct the pathways by which antimicrobial resistance spreads.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2022

A comparison of claw removal methods on the post-release survival and claw regeneration of stone crab (Menippe mercenaria)

Commercial and recreational stone crab (Menippe mercenaria) fisheries primarily occur along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts of the southeastern United States and the northeastern Caribbean. The fishery is unique in that only the crabs claws are retained and the animal is returned to the water alive. While the fishery is often regarded as sustainable because it is believed to exploit the crabs natural ability to voluntarily drop (autotomize) and regenerate lost claws, the post-release survival of de-clawed stone crabs is often low, especially when both claws are harvested. In this study, a controlled laboratory experiment was used to compare a new method of claw removal to the typical method currently used in the fishery. For the two different claw removal methods, we compared crab survival and start time to claw regeneration as a function of harvester and whether one claw or both claws were removed. Overall, we found a significant effect of the removal method, harvester, and whether one claw or both claws were removed on crab survival, but these factors did not influence the time to start of claw regeneration. Although our new method was several seconds slower in processing time than the typical method, it resulted in a 28% increase in survival (up to 92% survival throughout the study) compared to the typical method of claw removal (64% survival throughout the study). Overall, these results suggest that our new method of claw removal significantly increases post-release survival of stone crabs, and most notably does so independent of harvester and whether one claw or both claws are removed.

zoology↗

bioRxiv2022

Periodic Environmental Disturbance Drives Repeated Ecomorphological Diversification in an Adaptive Radiation of Antarctic Fishes

The ecological theory of adaptive radiation has profoundly shaped our conceptualization of the rules that govern diversification. However, while many radiations follow classic early burst patterns of diversification as they fill ecological space, the longer-term fates of these radiations depend on many factors, such as climatic stability. In systems with periodic disturbances, species-rich clades can contain nested adaptive radiations of subclades with their own distinct diversification histories, and how adaptive radiation theory applies in these cases is less clear. Here, we investigated patterns of ecological and phenotypic diversification within two iterative adaptive radiations of cryonotothenioid fishes in Antarcticas Southern Ocean: crocodile icefishes and notoperches. For both clades, we observe evidence of repeated diversification into disparate regions of trait space between closely related taxa and into overlapping regions of trait space between distantly related taxa. We additionally find little evidence that patterns of ecological divergence are correlated with evolution of morphological disparity, suggesting that these axes of divergence may not be tightly linked. Finally, we reveal evidence of repeated convergence in sympatry that suggests niche complementarity. These findings reflect the dynamic history of Antarctic marine habitats, and may guide hypotheses of diversification dynamics in environments characterized by periodic disturbance.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Genotypic diversity and dynamic nomenclature of Parechovirus A

Human parechoviruses (PeV-A) can cause severe sepsis and neurological syndromes in neonates and children and are currently classified into 19 genotypes based on genetic divergence in the VP1 gene. However, the genotyping system has notable limitations including an arbitrary distance threshold and reliance on insufficiently robust phylogenetic reconstruction approaches leading to inconsistent genotype definitions. In order to improve the genotyping system, we investigated the molecular epidemiology of human parechoviruses, including the evolutionary history of the different PeV-A lineages as far as is possible. We found that PeV-A lineages suffer from severe substitution saturation in the VP1 gene which limit the inference of deep evolutionary timescales among the extant PeV-A and suggest that the degree of evolutionary divergence among current PeV-A lineages has been substantially underestimated, further confounding the current genotyping system. We propose an alternative nomenclature system based on robust, amino-acid level phylogenetic reconstruction and clustering with the PhyCLIP algorithm which delineates highly divergent currently designated genotypes more informatively. We also describe a dynamic nomenclature framework that combines PhyCLIPs progressive clustering with phylogenetic placement for genotype assignment.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Asynchrony between virus diversity and antibody selection limits influenza virus evolution

Seasonal influenza viruses create a persistent global disease burden by evolving to escape immunity induced by prior infections and vaccinations. New antigenic variants have a substantial selective advantage at the population level, but these variants are rarely selected within-host, even in previously immune individuals. Using a mathematical model, we show that the temporal asynchrony between within-host virus exponential growth and antibody-mediated selection could limit within-host antigenic evolution. If selection for new antigenic variants acts principally at the point of initial virus inoculation, where small virus populations encounter well-matched mucosal antibodies in previously infected individuals, there can exist protection against reinfection that does not regularly produce observable new antigenic variants within individual infected hosts. Our results provide a theoretical explanation for how virus antigenic evolution can be highly selective at the global level but nearly neutral within host. They also suggest new avenues for improving influenza control.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Multi-tissue epigenetic analysis of the osteoarthritis susceptibility locus mapping to the plectin gene PLEC

ObjectiveOsteoarthritis (OA) associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs11780978 correlates with differential expression of PLEC, and methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTLs) at PLEC CpGs in cartilage. This implies that methylation links chondrocyte genotype and phenotype, thus driving the functional effect. PLEC encodes plectin, a cytoskeletal protein that enables tissues to respond to mechanical forces. We sought to assess whether PLEC functional effects were cartilage specific. MethodCartilage, fat pad, synovium and peripheral blood were collected from patients undergoing arthroplasty. PLEC CpGs were analysed for mQTLs and allelic expression imbalance (AEI) was performed. We focussed on previously reported mQTL clusters neighbouring cg19405177 and cg14598846. Plectin was knocked down in a mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) line using CRISPR/Cas9 and cells phenotyped by RNA-sequencing. ResultsNovel mQTLs were discovered in fat pad, synovium and peripheral blood at both clusters. The genotype-methylation effect of rs11780978 was stronger in cg14598846 than in cg19405177 and stronger in joint tissues than in peripheral blood. We observed AEI in synovium in the same direction as for cartilage. Knocking-down plectin impacted on pathways reported to have a role in OA, including Wnt signalling, glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis and immune regulation. ConclusionsSynovium is also a target of the rs11780978 OA association functionally operating on PLEC. In fat pad, mQTLs were identified but these did not correlate with PLEC expression, suggesting the functional effect is not joint-wide. Our study highlights interplay between genetic risk, DNA methylation and gene expression in OA, and reveals clear differences between tissues from the same diseased joint.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2020

Infestation dynamics between parasitic Antarctic fish leeches (Piscicolidae) and their crocodile icefish hosts (Channichthyidae)

An understanding of host-parasite interactions represents an important, but often overlooked, axis for predicting how marine biodiversity may be impacted by continued environmental change over the next century. For host and parasite communities in the Southern Ocean, investigations of many major groups of parasites have largely been limited to taxonomic and phylogenetic studies, creating an urgent need for the collection of baseline ecological data if we are to detect changes in host-parasite interactions in the future. Here, we survey three species of Crocodile icefish (Notothenioidei: Channichthyidae) collected from two island archipelagos in Antarcticas South Scotia Arc region for evidence of leech infestations. Specifically, we report on infestation prevalence and intensity of three leech species (Trulliobdella bacilliformis, Trulliobdella capitis, and Nototheniobdella sawyeri) on the host fish species Chaenocephalus aceratus, Champsocephalus gunnari, and Chionodraco rastrospinosus. Additionally, we characterize spatial patterns of relative abundances of each leech species across the Elephant and South Orkney Islands, size distribution of parasitized fish, and patterns of host and attachment site specificity. Our results reveal high levels of attachment area fidelity for each leech species. These results suggest skin thickness and density of the vascular network constrain leech attachment sites and further suggest trophic transmission to be an important axis of parasitization. We also demonstrate that, while leech species appear to be clustered spatially, this clustering does not appear to be correlated with fish biomass. This study illuminates the complex interactions among fish hosts and leech parasites in the Southern Ocean and lays the groundwork for future studies of Antarctic marine leech ecology that can aid in forecasting how host-parasite interactions may shift in the face of ongoing climate change.

ecology↗