Serge Morand , Boris R . Krasnov and D . Timothy

The development of molecular tools and phylogenetic methods have contributed to the explosion of taxonomic and phylogenetic investigations on parasites (both microand macroparasites, i.e. from viruses, bacteria, protists to arthropods and helminths), increasing our knowledge of considerable, and often cryptic, parasitic diversity. Concomitantly, the studies of host–parasite interactions and parasitism have influenced many scientific disciplines from biogeography to evolutionary ecology by using various comparative methods based on phylogenetic information to unravel shared evolutionary histories. The idea behind this book is indebted to the influential contributions of Roderic Page and Dan Brooks. Rod Page, in his edited book Tangled Trees (Page, 2003), has shown the importance of history, depicted by phylogenetics, for understanding the processes that may explain the macroevolutionary patterns of host–parasite co-diversification. Daniel Brooks and Deborah McLennan, in their book Nature of Diversity (Brooks & McLennan, 2002), have shown the importance of history, using also phylogenetics, as a background that is necessary for understanding processes and contingencies explaining the co-diversification of hosts and their parasites. The main objective of this book is to join two active fields of research activities – phylogenetics and evolutionary ecology – in order to better explore the diversification processes that may reveal and explain the patterns of parasite diversity, and concomitantly the diversification of their hosts. The two important aims of this book are, first, to provide an overview of recent advances in the evolutionary diversification of several major groups of microand macroparasites, and, second, to present an insight into established and emerging tools that can help test mechanisms and hypotheses that underlie the diversification and adaptation of these parasites. The present book is organized in three parts, namely (1) evolutionary ecology of parasite diversity, (2) evolutionary history of parasite diversity and (3) combining ecology and phylogenetics. The first part of this book starts with a chapter on quantifying parasite diversity, where Robert Poulin presents an overview of the ways in which parasite diversity can be measured. Several indices that quantify different facets of diversity, and that can be