Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study Them?

Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by rng-concern on Thursday August 01, 2024 @11:04AM (#41129884)

I remember listening to the radio (I believe on cbc canada), and one issue of studying any living thing is, whether your animal/creature of choice is in vogue currently or not. People below have mentioned funding which ties into that, but, if you're studying birds it's a lot easier to publish, there's more of an ecosystem and conferences, etc... than if you were to study some insect that nobody has heard of. Even within existing conferences you might not get "top-billing", even if you're presenting.

Pity as the things nobody has ever heard of are probably the most interesting.

I wish I remembered more details so could link something.

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by mc_maurer on Thursday August 01, 2024 @11:08AM (#41129951)

It's a pretty widely known thing that studying charismatic megafauna gets you lots of money. However, they're also generally WAY more of a pain to study. Fewer individuals, larger home ranges, expensive permits, etc. A good friend studies basking sharks and the shark research world is insanely competitive, full of crazy type A folks. Compared to the insect ecology world (where I come from), which is full of pretty chill stoners and weirdos.

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by insane_dreamer on Thursday August 01, 2024 @11:18AM (#41130064)

My takeaway is that to be an ecological researcher one must be crazy, weird, or stoned :)

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by mc_maurer on Thursday August 01, 2024 @11:20AM (#41130085)

Plenty of variability within that subset though! Lots of stereotypes based on your study system lol

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by solardev on Thursday August 01, 2024 @03:05PM (#41132429)

"Or"? ;)

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by fuzztester on Thursday August 01, 2024 @03:26PM (#41132646)

3 bi-di logical implications (between those 3 adjectives) is the right thing here ;)

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by humanfromearth9 on Thursday August 01, 2024 @03:19PM (#41132579)

Logical or is the default or, which allows for either one, either other, or one _and_ other

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by pvaldes on Thursday August 01, 2024 @07:01PM (#41134542)

My takeaway is that to be an ecological researcher one must be intelligent, curious, capable and have the desire to help people to live better.

cliches are stupid.

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by fuzztester on Thursday August 01, 2024 @11:43PM (#41135929)

thy username suiteth thy comment

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by Biganon on Thursday August 01, 2024 @04:47PM (#41133446)

I wonder if the group studying an animal slowly evolves to resemble this animal

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by fuzztester on Thursday August 01, 2024 @11:40PM (#41135916)

Good insight. I have thougbt the same or similar.

>I wonder if the group studying an animal slowly evolves to resemble this animal

IOW:

I wonder if the group studying an animal slowly evolves to look like this animal

likely

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by klyrs on Friday August 02, 2024 @02:00AM (#41136462)

They smell like the animal much quicker. Presumably this results in some correlation in their gut flora

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by pvaldes on Friday August 02, 2024 @06:19AM (#41137556)

> They smell like the animal. Presumably this results in some correlation in their gut flora

Frankly, this claims are starting to be a little offensive.

Biologists take baths also when needed. Exactly the same as any other people. This would be not different than claiming that people that breed pigs, ends looking and smelling like pigs. Is not a productive way to drive this kind of conversations.

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by taylorius on Friday August 02, 2024 @03:53AM (#41136936)

That's interesting. I first read your comment, and I thought you were referring to the personalities of those studying an animal gradually changing as they unconsciously model their own behavior after that animal. This seems highly plausible to me.

But then I re-read it, and the second time it seemed to mean that the members of a group studying a certain animal would self select to favour those who are fascinated by and admire that animal. This also seems highly plausible to me.

Either way, it seems fitting that the world of shark study is full of "apex predator" researchers.

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by mc_maurer on Friday August 02, 2024 @10:41AM (#41139155)

I think some of it is self-selection, but I also think some of it is a filtering effect based on the much more competitive and stressful atmosphere. Getting funding and permits and equipment to study sharks is a way more stressful process than walking around in a field collecting bugs. Not that collecting bugs is always easy, but the barrier to entry is way lower.

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by maximus-decimus on Friday August 02, 2024 @08:54AM (#41138467)

I started watching harp videos and they're all so calm and composed, like harp music lol. I really wonder if they're attracted to the harp because they're harp-like or if they became harp-like because of playing the harp.

The idea that you can change your personality just by choosing a field of study is for some reason very appealing to me.

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by kazinator on Thursday August 01, 2024 @08:10PM (#41134956)

[delayed]

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by sethammons on Thursday August 01, 2024 @09:17PM (#41135283)

Donors. They want something that makes them feel good. Something to talk about at a cocktail party. LCM: large charismatic mammal; I'm saving pandas is better than the parasitic anderson wasp* that lives out its lifecycle in some gross fungus thing

*imaginary bug

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by vibrio on Friday August 02, 2024 @05:52PM (#41142986)

Your point is well taken that pandas are probably a quick pitch for the right crowd, but “lots of money” seems optimistic for wildlife/conservation biology funding. That said, raising money for diseases of __human__ inhabitants of the developing world is typically quite a challenge. Counter to the focus of this thread, obesity is where it’s at right now for abundant funding.

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Re:Parasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study... by mc_maurer on Friday August 02, 2024 @10:38AM (#41139122)

It comes down to a lot of factors, but a big one is the diversity of funding sources. If you study a species that doesn't have broad appeal, you're probably looking at NSF funding, maybe USDA. If you study a game animal you can tap into all sorts of funding sources, like Ducks Unlimited, etc. You might be able to get state or federal wildlife agency funding. You might get a weird, wealthy donor who like sharks.

NSF grants are still the most important and impressive for most subfields within ecology, but the competition is fierce.

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