Warming increases richness and shapes assemblages of eukaryotic parasitic plankton.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Anthropogenic activities have led to a global rise in water temperatures, prompting increased interest in how warming affects infectious disease ecology. While most studies have focused on individual host-parasite systems, there is a gap in understanding the impact of warming on multi-host, multi-parasite assemblages in natural ecosystems. To address this gap, we investigated freshwater eukaryotic parasite communities in ten natural lakes near Konin, Poland: five artificially heated and five non-heated "control" lakes. Since 1958, the heated lakes have experienced a mean annual temperature increase of 2 °C due to hot water discharge from two adjacent power plants. We collected seasonal environmental DNA (eDNA) samples from surface waters over a two-year period and applie

SUBMITTER: Rajarajan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12181845 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature