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Registration Number

0225U004236, (0124U003702) , R & D reports

Title

Parasites and the Sixth Extinction: a study of the state of parasites communities and populations of the model groups of animals under the current crisis of biodiversity

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Збір, лабораторні дослідження та початковий аналіз паразитологічного матеріалу

Head

Kuzmina Tetiana А., Кандидат біологічних наук

Registration Date

26-11-2025

Organization

Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

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This project aims to study the species diversity and structure of parasite communities and populations in model vertebrate groups to detect changes in natural and transformed ecosystems and determine the main directions of these changes. Analysing of contemporary and previously collected parasitological data will significantly update species diversity databases, comprehensively assess ecosystem biodiversity, and develop predictive models of ecological changes for the coming decades.

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At the second stage of the Project, several expeditions to various regions of Ukraine were conducted; 352 specimens of amphibians and reptiles (13 species) and 35 specimens of birds were collected. In total, more than 18,000 helminth specimens were collected. More than 6,700 helminths from frogs and toads and more than 2,500 specimens of helminths from birds were identified. Electronic Databases of helminthological collections from model vertebrates, their parasites, and an electronic database of biotopes were supplemented. Methods of molecular-genetic research for individual species were optimized; poorly studied helminth species were examined. Original descriptions of the cestode Ophiotaenia saphena and the nematode Amphibiocapillaria tritonispunctati, first discovered in Ukraine, were published. The analysis of the ecological and parasitological parameters for helminth communities of separate species of amphibians, reptiles and birds was carried out. The relationship between species richness in helminth communities of the lake frogs and the degree of anthropogenic pollution was studied. The composition of helminth communities of snakes of the genus Natrix was studied; the hypothesis of the common origin of the helminth fauna of grass snake and the impoverishment of the helminth fauna of water snake as a result of the evolutionary transition from batrachophagia to ichthyophagia was substantiated. 15 species of helminths were found in white-fronted geese Anser albifrons; 2 helminth species were first registered in Ukraine. A data processing scheme (workflow) was created using the R programming language to test hypotheses on the impact of anthropogenically modified environments on helminth communities, which consists of a sequential set of scenarios (scripts) that are combined into a single workflow within the Quarto document. Preliminary analysis showed that individual helminth species are associated with ecosystems with a certain level of anthropogenic load.

Product Description

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Hreben Oksana B.
Marushchak Oleksii Yu.
Lisitsyna Olha I.
Roman Svitin
Dmytrieva Ivanna G.
Dupak Valeriia S.
Antipova Kateryna H.
Andrii O. Nechai

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2025-11-26