Classes Taught:
• BIO191
• BIO215
Research Interests:
The Parasite Ecology Lab focuses on understanding how human activities impact host-parasite interactions. While parasites are often regarded as disease agents, they are also intriguing species that play essential roles in ecological interactions. Despite their relevance, they are rarely accounted for in ecological studies and the impacts of climate change, invasive, species, and pollution on parasite diversity are even less understood. Is global warming going to induce an increase in parasite abundance or impair parasite performance in the wild? Do pollutants make hosts more susceptible to parasites or hamper the capacity of parasite larval stages to be transmitted to their host? Do invasive species dilute parasite effects or facilitate new host-parasite interactions? What role do wildlife parasites play in the context of the One Health concept? These are some of the questions that inspire the research in the Parasite Ecology Lab. We search for answers to these questions with a combination of field studies, experimental ecology, and molecular techniques. Reach out to learn more!
Published Works:
Sures B, Díaz Morales DM, Yong RQY, Erasmus A, Schwelm J. (2025) “Biology and life cycles of helminths” in: Aquatic Parasitology: Ecological and Environmental Concepts and Implications of Marine and Freshwater Parasites (Eds: Nico J Smit & Bernd Sures), Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83903-0
Díaz-Morales DM, Jolma R, Sures B, Thielgtes D. (2025) “Parasites in biological invasions” in: Aquatic Parasitology: Ecological and Environmental Concepts and Implications of Marine and Freshwater Parasites (Eds: Nico J Smit & Bernd Sures), Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83903-0
Díaz-Morales DM, Bommarito C, Vajedsamiei J, Grabner DS, Rilov G, Wahl M, Sures B. (2022) Heat sensitivity of first host and cercariae may restrict parasite transmission in a warming sea. Scientific Reports, 12:1174, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05139-5
Díaz-Morales DM, Erasmus H, Bosch S, Nachev M, Zimmerman S, Smit N, Wepener V, Sures B. (2021) Metal contamination and toxicity of soils and river sediments from the world’s largest Platinum mining area. Environmental Pollution, 286:1172, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117284