Parasites as Emerging Biomonitoring Tools-Promises and Pitfalls

The ongoing debate over the application of parasites as ecological indicators for environmental assessment is quite interesting. In recent decades, parasitologists have evaluated parasites under different environmental conditions for their potential role as ecological indicators, particularly in aquatic systems. The present paper critically highlights the importance of parasites in environmental assessment, envisages emerging trends in integrated host-parasite sentinel systems and examines current modelling approaches. Our analysis shows that parasites have been used effectively as an effect indicator, nevertheless, studies on host-parasite system as an accumulation indicator in the majority of environmental studies has increased in recent decade. The results show that parasites in combination with other assemblages provide a better model system than parasites alone. We review different modelling approaches that have been used to assess the feasibility of applying parasites as indicators of environmental deterioration. Recent research update on host–parasite interaction in response to various pollutants is also presented. There is an urgent need to focus on the molecular aspects of both parasite and host in relation to environmental degradation. In addition, advanced modelling approaches, especially remote sensing and mathematical modelling, can help us to demonstrate the potential of parasites, if any, under various environmental conditions.