Will climate change alter parasite development?

The effect of climate change has already been seen in many ecological systems, but incorporating studies of parasites is vital to fully understand how ecological communities as a whole will respond. We used a meta-analytic approach to assess the role of climatic perturbation on parasite development, abundance and fecundity. Development increased with a temperature increase, but decreased as humidity increased under constant temperature. Abundance also increased, yet fecundity decreased with temperature changes. Our results demonstrate that these aspects of parasite fitness have a complex relationship with the climate, suggesting that future responses to global climate change will be difficult to predict