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CHICAGO , Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Changing climate on the Earth may cause extinction of up to one-third of parasite species by 2070, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances on September 6.
The diverse group of organisms or parasites includes tapeworms, roundworms, ticks, lice , fleas and other pests. Parasites have a bad reputation for causing disease in humans, livestock and other animals. But parasites play important roles in ecosystems, and parasite loss could dramatically disrupt ecosystems.
To find out how climate change is likely to affect the survival of a wide range of parasite species, researchers turned to museum collections. The U.S. National Parasite Collection, containing millions of organisms , provides a broad and deep record of different species' occurrences around the world. Most species are represented by many specimens, meaning researchers can use the museum's records to investigate organisms' geographical distributions and predict changes over time.
Records from the U.S. National Parasite Collection were combined with additional information from specialized databases cataloging ticks, fleas, feather mites and bee mites to enable a comprehensive global analysis.
Then a team including 17 researchers in eight countries spent years tracking down the exact geographical source of tens of thousands of parasite specimens, adding GPS coordinates to their database wherever possible.
Using climate forecasts , the researchers compared how 457 parasite species will be impacted by changes in climate under various scenarios.
The analysis determined that parasites are even more threatened than the animal hosts they rely on. The most catastrophic model predicted that more than a third of parasite species worldwide could be lost by 2070. The most optimistic models predicted a loss of about 10 percent.
"(Slowing climate change) has a really profound impact on extinction rates, "said study lead author Colin Carlson, a graduate student in Wayne Getz's laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.
"Parasites are definitely going to face major extinction risk in the next 50 years," Carlson said. "They are certainly as threatened as any other animal group."
"Climate change has the capacity to alter nearly every dimension of biodiversity ," said Nyeema Harris, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Michigan (UM).
It is the consensus of the researchers that parasites need to be included in conversations about conservation, given their delicate position in complex ecosystems as the study shows.
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HONG KONG, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The 36th Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair opened here Tuesday , with exhibitors, especially new companies, looking for chances to expand their markets.
Organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the Hong Kong Watch Manufacturers Association Ltd, and the Federation of Hong Kong Watch Trades and Industries Ltd , the 5-day fair features more than 820 exhibitors from 24 countries and regions.
"We started our distribution in Chinese mainland three years ago, which is an expanding business for us," Martial Butscher, Export Director of Pierre Lannier (Paris), told Xinhua that Chinese mainland consumers are looking for fashion and reasonable price , which is a potential market for new brands like them.
Butscher said that they hope to introduce their products to the world market through Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair.
The fair showcases timepieces of different kinds, from high-end functional mechanical watches to snazzy smart watches, from luxurious jewellery watches to creatively designed casual watches.
Hong Kong brand Cupid Memory joined the fair for the second time. Its Assistant Sales Manager Suki Chiu said that as a relatively new company, they tried to stand out by producing novel products.
"Different from other smart watches in the market that mostly designed for (measuring) heart rate, ours are used to share precious moments with beloved ones ," Chiu said, as she demonstrated how messages shown on a mobile phone after tapping it on the patented leather straps of the watch.
Chiu said that they are optimistic about the market as they have got sales increased after joining the gift show, also organized by the HKTDC earlier this year. "We aim at reaching consumers from different parts of the world."
Hong Kong is the world's second-largest exporter of watches and clocks, with exports reaching 36.4 billion HK dollars (about 4.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the first seven months of 2017. Its top export markets are the Chinese mainland, the United States and Switzerland.
During the exhibition , more than 30 events are organized to help industry players connect and share market information. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.8 HK dollars)
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