Keywords

life history evolution, coevolution, host manipulation, biological indicator

Study species

freshwater leeches, parasitic copepods, trematodes, nematodes, Acanthocephala

Since a young parasitologist, Hirotaka Katahira, came to our lab in 2013, we’ve received many new perspectives on animal ecology. Many people hate parasites, but they are really interesting!!! We are especially focused on freshwater fish-parasite systems to see how previously unknown phenomena can be explained through parasites. For example, we are investigating the possibility that parasites affect migration behavior of salmonids. Leeches and parasitic copepods are the targets.