INTRODUCTION TO THIS BLOG
Post # 1
Donald A. Windsor
On this blog I will publish my ideas about parasites in ecosystems. Parasitism is a role, or lifestyle, that would seem to be contrary to life, an evil burden that every free-living creature must endure. Yet instead, it seems that parasitism is a widespread, integral property of life itself.
Understanding biology is impossible without understanding parasitism. This blog will publish my attempts to do so. But first, let me present a brief overview of my background in parasitology.
My interest in parasites began as an undergrad taking a class in protozoology. I went on to do my Masters thesis on the facultative parasitic protozoan Tetrahymena limacis. As a grad student I was a research assistant working with the lung fluke Paragonimus kellicotti in rats and cats. My dissertation research used the blood-sucking leech Hirudo medicinalis because it was larger, easier to raise, and could be purchased rather than captured. I was then awarded a predoctoral fellowship by the National Institutes of Health.
Understanding biology is impossible without understanding parasitism. This blog will publish my attempts to do so. But first, let me present a brief overview of my background in parasitology.
My interest in parasites began as an undergrad taking a class in protozoology. I went on to do my Masters thesis on the facultative parasitic protozoan Tetrahymena limacis. As a grad student I was a research assistant working with the lung fluke Paragonimus kellicotti in rats and cats. My dissertation research used the blood-sucking leech Hirudo medicinalis because it was larger, easier to raise, and could be purchased rather than captured. I was then awarded a predoctoral fellowship by the National Institutes of Health.
Unfortunately, I had to abandon this interesting subject
when I left school in 1966. After I retired from Procter &
Gamble in 1994, I wondered what had been happening in parasitology
during the past 28 years. So I started speed-reading all the
parasitology journals that were available in our local university
libraries.
Upon completion, about a year and a half later, I was
astonished by what I had learned. It could all be summed up in two
words: Parasites Rule!
My fast-forward approach gave me a vast overview of an
entire field. I had acquired a vision that other parasitologists
apparently missed, because they lived it day-by-day, with their noses
to the grindstone, each in his/her own tiny niche. The field of
parasitology is characterized by tedious labor and narrow focus.
Parasitologists can easily miss the big picture.
But not I. I grasped the big picture because of my
fast-forward approach. Parasites rule the Earth because they
outnumber all other species. Moreover, because parasites, by
definition, harm their hosts, they inflict mortality and morbidity
upon all other species in an ecosystem. When competition, or
predator-prey interactions, or environmental forces cannot regulate
free-living species, then parasites step in and take over the
management of ecosystems.
Nature not only abhors a vacuum, it also abhors a
monoculture. Whenever a monoculture gets too large, diseases, caused
by parasites, move in and curtail it.
Had I not been absent from the field of parasitology for
three decades, I would never have seen this vision. It was truly a
Eureka moment!
Here is a list, in chronological order, of my publications about parasites.
Windsor DA
Colpoda
steinii and Tetrahymena
limacis in several terrestrial pulmonate
gastropods collected in Illinois. Journal
of Protozoology 1959 Aug; 6(Suppl): 33 #135.
Windsor DA
Studies on the in vitro biology of Tetrahymena
limacis. MS Thesis, Department of
Zoology, University of Illinois, Urbana. 1960. 87 pages.
Windsor DA
Morphological changes exhibited by Tetrahymena
limacis upon isolation from three newly
discovered hosts.
Journal of Protozoology 1960; 7(Suppl): 111.
Kruidenier FJ ;
Windsor DA Pigment of Paragonimus
kellicotti Ward, 1908. Journal
of Parasitology 1964; 50(Suppl): 53 #129.
Kruidenier
FJ ; Windsor DA The development of Paragonimus
kellicotti Ward, 1908. In: Corradetti
A, Editor Proceedings
of the First International Congress of Parasitology.
(Rome, Sep 21-26, 1964) Pergamon Press, NY. 1966. 2: 825-6.
Windsor DA
Heavenly hosts. ["Equal rights for parasites!"] Nature
1990 Nov 8; 348(6297): 104.
Windsor DA
Guest Editorial. Equal rights for parasites. Conservation
Biology 1995 Feb; 9(1): 1-2.
Windsor DA
Endangered interrelationships; the ecological cost of parasites lost.
Wild
Earth 1995-96 Winter; 5(4): 78-83.
Windsor DA
Stand up for parasites. Trends
in Ecology & Evolution 1997 Jan; 12(1):
32.
Windsor DA
Equal rights for parasites. Perspectives
in Biology and Medicine 1997 Winter; 40(2):
222-229.
Windsor DA
From pearls to perils - the imperiled freshwater clams. Wild
Earth 1997 Spring; 7(1): 31-35.
Windsor DA The
basic unit of evolution is the host-symbiont "biocartel".
Evolutionary
Theory 1997 Aug; 11(4): 275.
Windsor DA
Equal rights for parasites. BioScience
1998 Apr; 48(4):244.
Windsor DA
Most of the species on Earth are parasites. International
Journal for Parasitology 1998 December;
28(12): 1939-1941.
Windsor DA.
Are all mass invasions alike? Trends
in Ecology & Evolution 2000 June; 15(6):
248-249.
Windsor DA
Spraying wrong way to curb West Nile Virus. Press
& Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) 2000
September 6 Wednesday; 15(342): 9A.
Windsor DA
Disease, trees, and monopolies. Communicator
(Three Rivers Project of the Heartland Bioregion) 2001 May; 9(10): 2.
Windsor DA
Book review of: Zimmer C. Parasite
Rex: Inside the Bizzare World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures.
NY: Free Press. 2000. 298 pages. Science
Books & Films 2001 May-June; 37(3): 106.
Windsor DA
Sickamores. Communicator
(Three Rivers Project of the Heartland Bioregion) 2001 July; 10(1):
2.
Windsor DA
Bluebird trails = pathogen pathways. New
York Birders 2003 January; 32(1)(135): 9.
Windsor DA
Parasites rule. New
Scientist 2004 April 24; 182(2444): 32.
Windsor DA
Leidy's legacy [Ecological role of anthrax] Natural
History 2005 October; 115(8): 10,66.
Windsor D
[Symbionts in resurrected extinct mammals.] New
Scientist 2009 February 7; 201(2694): 26-27.
Windsor
D Microbes on Mars. New
Scientist
2013 July 27; 219(2927): 32.
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