Parasites are a diverse array of organisms that infect most plant and animal species on earth. Besides being agents of disease, parasites comprise a substantial component of the fauna of Canada. Although Canada has a long tradition of producing world-class parasitological research, the large size and small population of our country leave much of its parasite fauna poorly documented. The Parasitology Section of the Canadian Society of Zoologists has pursued since 1984 the idea of establishing a Parasite Module within the Biological Survey of Canada. In 1990, they established a steering committee to lay the groundwork. This committee attended meetings of the Terrestrial Arthropod Module and sought opinion from the community of Canadian parasitologists. In addition, the committee initiated projects to assess current parasitological expertise in Canada, the status of parasitological collections, and the willingness of Canadian parasitologists to cooperate on research projects of national scale. The steering committee believes that there is the need for a coordinated effort to survey the parasite fauna of Canada, that there exists the expertise to conduct the survey, and that Canadian parasitologists recognize the benefits of cooperative efforts fostered by a Parasite Module. We strongly urge the implementation of a Parasite Module, and request funding sufficient to provide for a coordinator and for biannual meetings of a 5-7 member committee.
The Biological Survey of Canada has been in existence since 1977, when the module now entitled Terrestrial Arthropods was formed. The module operated with contract funding for a number of years through its affiliation with the Entomological Society of Canada. The Survey was not expected to operate indefinitely as a single module, but to be amplified by the addition of modules in other areas as such areas presented themselves.
A number of events have made the idea of expanding the module more timely. The possibility of significant environmental change mandates our becoming more aware of our present fauna so that we can recognize early signs of potential change. We have irreversibly changed the flora and fauna of the planet. Canada was the first industrialized country to sign the Convention on Biodiversity at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 1992. As such Canada might be expected to play a leadership role in implementing the requirements. Yet, we have only a rudimentary idea of our flora and fauna.
The Terrestrial Arthropod Module should be joined by modules devoted to botany and parasitology. Plants comprise a dominant component of community structure in all terrestrial habitats and the importance of establishing base line data for them is easily understood. The importance of parasitology is less obvious but easily explained. Parasites are a significant component in the niche of all species on earth (plants and animals). Parasites are a diverse array of organisms, studied by an equally diverse group of scientists. Parasitologists are united in the study of organisms that share a life style, rather than a taxonomic affiliation. Thus, a parasite module would be a natural unifying group in the survey, especially because it will combine interests of those working with plant and animal parasites.
The idea of establishing a Parasitology Module has been on the agenda of the Parasitology Section of the Canadian Society of Zoologists since 1984. A formal initiative on this matter commenced in October 1989 when Drs. Bill Evans and Martin Adamson attended the fall meeting of the Terrestrial Arthropod Module in Ottawa. After returning from this meeting, Evans and Adamson solicited from Canadian parasitologists ideas that might be pursued by our group on a cooperative basis. At the spring 1990 meeting of the Society at Simon Fraser University, Dr. Murray Lankester asked the Section to agree to establish a steering committee to pursue some of the suggested projects. The initial members of the steering committee and their associated projects were:
Specific goals were:
It was decided that the past chair of the Parasitology Section would sit on the committee as a Section observer. In 1991, David Cone was made Chair of the Steering Committee. He has chaired meetings at each of the subsequent meetings of the Canadian Society of Zoologists (Thunder Bay and Antigonish) at which the Steering Committee gave progress reports to the Section. Dr David Marcogliese assumed the Chair of the Steering Committee in 1993, and Dr. Martin Adamson replaced Dr. Al Shostak on the committee in 1996.