Parasites are ubiquitous, can cause diseases, and are significant players in ecological communities. However, global parasite diversity knowledge is proportionally scant and consequences of environmental changes that we currently face such as warming and sea level rise/flooding are largely unknown. BioBlitzes are short term intensive surveys to identify and catalogue as many species as possible and thus enhance both local and global biodiversity knowledge. We propose to adapt the BioBlitz concept to survey parasites in the aquatic ecosystem at Stono Preserve and integrate metabarcoding to capture free-living parasite stages that are missed in traditional surveys.
Researchers seek to adapt the BioBlitz concept to survey aquatic parasites in an understudied local wetland and begin to fill in the knowledge gaps in global parasite diversity; acquire baseline data on parasite fauna in three sites (fresh, brackish, and marine bodies of water) to allow future monitoring; and to assess if metabarcoding is an effective parasite survey tool and complement or could replace traditional survey in long term monitoring of the locality. This study will provide baseline information for the Stono preserve aquatic system that will be usable to establish long-term monitoring of the site. Given that this locality has never been explored, it will also increase global (and US wetland) parasite diversity knowledge as researchers expect to encounter species new to science.