ArticleFrontiers in ecology and the environment2015
A world without parasites: exploring the hidden ecology of infection.
Article in Frontiers in ecology and the environment, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed.
- Malaria Prevalence Near African Mangroves: Negative Association With Mangrove Extent, but Positive Association With Mangrove Greenness.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Phylogeny Drives Carrion Consumption by Vertebrate Scavengers Towards Distantly Related Species.Ecology letters · 2026Article
- Long-term trends in parasite diversity and infection levels: approaches and patterns.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- A ten-year change in blood parasite infection in a sympatric wall-lizard community (genus Podarcis) from the Atlantic coast of Portugal.Parasitology research · 2026Article
- Transient Intraperitoneal Residence ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Fecal metabarcoding vs traditional invasive survey to access the diversity of anuran endoparasites and diet.Parasitology · 2025Article
- Agricultural land use and ensuing eutrophication both shape parasitic trematode communities in rural African lakes.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Environmental conditions influence host-parasite interactions and host fitness in a migratory passerine.Integrative zoology · 2025Article
- An interdisciplinary approach to improving conservation outcomes for parasites.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2025Review
- Parasites of the hermit crab Pagurus hirsutiusculus; distribution, prevalence, and thermal ecology.PloS one · 2025Article
- Microbiome ofInsects · 2024Article
- Extrinsic and intrinsic drivers of prevalence and abundance of hard-bodied ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in one-humped camel (Parasite epidemiology and control · 2024Article
- Hidden diversity of cestodes in wild African carnivores: I. Non-taeniid cyclophyllideans.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2024Article
- Opening a can of worms: Archived canned fish fillets reveal 40 years of change in parasite burden for four Alaskan salmon species.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Host species and geography impact bee-associated RNA virus communities with evidence for isolation by distance in viral populations.ISME communications · 2024Article
- Ecological factors shaping the ectoparasite community assembly of the Azara's Grass Mouse, Akodon azarae (Rodentia: Cricetidae).Parasitology research · 2023Article
- Parasite diversity at isolated, disturbed hydrothermal vents.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- The response of aquatic ecosystems to the interactive effects of stratospheric ozone depletion, UV radiation, and climate change.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2023Article
- Back from Exile? First Records of Chewing Lice (Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Parasites either reduce or increase host vulnerability to fishing: a case study of a parasitic copepod and its salmonid host.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Parasites have historically been considered a scourge, deserving of annihilation. Although parasite eradications rank among humanity's greatest achievements, new research is shedding light on the collateral effects of parasite loss. Here, we explore a "world without parasites": a thought experiment for illuminating the ecological roles that parasites play in ecosystems. While there is robust evidence for the effects of parasites on host individuals (eg affecting host vital rates), this exercise highlights how little we know about the influence of parasites on communities and ecosystems (eg altering energy flow through food webs). We present hypotheses for novel, interesting, and general effects of parasites. These hypotheses are largely untested, and should be considered a springboard for future research. While many uncertainties exist, the available evidence suggests that a world without parasites would be very different from the world we know, with effects extending from host individuals to populations, communities, and even ecosystems.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.