Roadmap for nematode control strategies

Establish the host species involved in the epidemiology of different nematodes under relevant farming systems, including wildlife.
Understand within-species host factors (e.g. age, physiological stages, production levels, nutrition) affecting host susceptibility to nematodes.

Host range is mostly known but the relative importance of different species for transmission in quantitative terms might vary between systems. Wildlife hosts, e.g. nutria and lagomorphs for liver fluke, deer for GI nematodes, might increase or decrease infection pressure (through addition or removal of infective stages) and resistance development (by spreading resistance genes or providing refugia). Can this be determined for existing systems and predicted for other or future systems?
Parasites might adapt to new hosts. How likely is this to curtail the usefulness of mixed grazing systems?
Trade-offs between fitness and host range in specialist and generalist nematodes are poorly characterised.
Can management effectively utilise less susceptible hosts to remove infective stages and / or to provide refugia without production loss?

Epidemiological studies including relevant alternative and wildlife species associated with different livestock production systems in different parts of the world.
Identify experimental models to explore or confirm host specificity between livestock species or wildlife and the factors that explain the specificity.
Develop predictive approaches to epidemiology that take account of host range and potentially host switching.

Develop the epidemiological skills and models to perform the studies in the field and in the evaluation of parasite specificity.
Adapted molecular tools to identify GI nematode species from the faeces of different hosts (livestock and wild animals).
Use “omics” tools to determine the reason behind host specificity.

Host range is mostly known but the relative importance of different species for transmission in quantitative terms might vary between systems.
Parasites might adapt to new hosts.