Important resources for parasite biodiversity research

This seminar is open to all!

On December 6th at 12:30 in N-132, Haseeb Randhawa, professor at Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, will present:

Natural history collections: important resources for parasite biodiversity research

Parasite biodiversity remains grossly underestimated relative to that of free-living species. With half the species on Earth having adopted parasitism as a life history strategy, why do they remain neglected in scientific research? Isn’t ignoring them impacting negatively on global efforts to quantify biodiversity? This seminar will draw attention to some of the challenges for integrating parasitology with ecology, and highlight some case studies that demonstrate how collaborations and the use of natural history collections can help bridge some of these perceived impediments. I will end this seminar with a plea to ecologists (and parasitologists alike) to deposit vouchers of their study material collected during surveys in recognised and reliable depositories, such as Museums. With sufficient metadata and adequate curation, we can ensure that these collections become a legacy to future generations of scientists, rather than collect dust on our office/lab shelves to only be thrown out once we retire.

This seminar is in person and on Zoom:

https://eu01web.zoom.us/j/65531605659

Meeting ID: 655 3160 5659