How to catch a parasite: Parasite Niche Modeler (PaNic) meets Fishbase

Ecography
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Abstract

Parasite Niche Modeler (PaNic) is a free online software tool that suggests potential hosts for fish parasites. For a particular parasite species from the major helminth groups (Acanthocephala, Cestoda, Monogenea, Nematoda, Trematoda), PaNic takes data from known hosts (maximum body length, growth rate, life span, age at first maturity, trophic level, phylogeny, and biogeography) and hypothesizes similar fish species that might serve as hosts to that parasite. Users can give varying weights to host attributes and create custom models. In addition to suggesting plausible hosts (with varying degrees of confidence), the models indicate known host species that appear to be outliers in comparison to other known hosts. These unique features make PaNic an innovative tool for addressing both theoretical and applied questions in fish parasitology. PaNic can be accessed at <http://purl.oclc.org/fishpest>.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title How to catch a parasite: Parasite Niche Modeler (PaNic) meets Fishbase
Series title Ecography
DOI 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2012.07439.x
Volume 35
Issue 6
Year Published 2012
Language English
Publisher Wiley
Contributing office(s) Western Ecological Research Center
Description 6 p.
First page 481
Last page 486
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