Use of invasive parasites as biomarkers for ecosystem health and stability

Healthy ecosystems are distinguished by diverse and stable parasitic communities, which reflect the balance and resilience of ecological processes, Fish parasites respond dynamically to environmental changes, pollution and changes in their host populations, thus having the ability to indicate changes in the overall stability of marine habitats, Parasites also further burden the relationships of invasive species and their impacts by changing the normal parasite-host relationships, thus changing the structure of the system that hosts them, The Levantine Basin, which has been greatly affected by foreign invasive species, has undergone a severe remodeling of its fish communities, the second largest in number of species, invasive taxon, The proposed project intends to reveal unknown parasite-fish interactions as well as ecosystem dynamics, as well as to detect parasite exchanges between invasive, native and cultivated fish, it will focus on parasite-fish systems in areas with varying temperature conditions, number of invasive species and pollution, and offer a unique perspective on ecological interactions and environmental change: 1) Eilat Bay in the Red Sea with native parasite-fish systems, 2) off the Mediterranean coast of Israel, where parasite-fish systems may have been partially affected by native parasite species, 3) off the coast of Cyprus, an isolated study area, where most likely invasive species have completely lost their native parasites, The knowledge generated by the project has the potential to enhance marine environmental monitoring tools and methods and may have a wider application beyond the purpose of the project, informing policy decisions, management strategies as well as sustainable management practices, EU Fund: EU Cohesion Fund Total Budget: €99,960 EU Contribution: €59,976 Country: CY Source: EU Cohesion Policy (Kohesio)