PS 14-187 - The Thermal Impact on Parasite Performance (TIPP) database

Abstract: Global climate change (GCC) and emerging infectious diseases are formidable ecological challenges that must be addressed as they have the combined potential to influence many aspects of global biology. Most GCC-caused declines and extinctions have been attributed to species interactions (e.g., host-parasite), highlighting the fact that science must develop an understanding of organismal responses to GCC to predict when GCC might trigger outbreaks of infectious disease. Current research has posited that GCC will increase many infectious diseases and reduce biodiversity, ecosystem services, food production. To facilitate understanding the effects of GCC on host-parasite interactions, we develop the Thermal Impact on Parasite Performance (TIPP) database, consisting of the thermal performance of pathogens grown in culture or on hosts and vectors. We conducted a literature search and extracted approximately 1600 thermal performance curves from 800 parasite species spanning helminths, fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and insects, as well as parasites of humans and wild and domesticated plants and animals. Additionally, by combining TIPP with databases on the thermal performances curves of hosts (e.g., BioTraits and VecTraits) we expect to provide science with a central location for thermal performance data that can be used to test GCC-based hypotheses for host-parasite interactions. Here, we explore the overall utility of the current version of this database, highlight any potential data gaps for future experimental work, and present a case study using the database.