Parasite Bioblitz in a protected area: diversity across a forested wetland to tidal creek continuum in South Carolina, USA

Abstract

The BioBlitz concept has become popular across taxonomic fields, attracting interest globally to increase knowledge of local biodiversity. However, large-scale application of BioBlitz events for parasites has not occurred due to the need for wide taxonomic expertise and in-field sample processing and microscopy. As a team of parasitologists with individual, complementary and methodologically aligned expertise, we adopted the concept of a BioBlitz as a ‘moonshot’-like endeavor and a proof-of-concept in our research field. Over ca. two weeks, we intensively screened fishes and various invertebrate taxa (annelids, crustaceans, snails, bivalves) for parasites, and sampled sediment and water for eDNA from four aquatic habitats: wetland, freshwater pond, brackish impoundment, and tidal creek at Stono Preserve (College of Charleston’s Foundation, South Carolina, USA) to cover ecosystem-level parasite diversity. Morphological and molecular identification of parasites collected revealed the presence of eight major parasite taxa (monogeneans, cestodes, digeneans, nematodes, copepods, myxozoans, flagellates, and leeches), several of which were new host and/or locality records with numerous host-parasite combinations. The finding of species new to science and numerous host-parasite combinations further supports that such short term and intensive surveys improve knowledge of parasite diversity, which is under-studied yet essential for deeper understanding of ecosystems at local and global scales.