Effects of deer density on tick infestation of rodents and the hazard of tick-borne encephalitis. I: Empirical assessment

Cagnacci, Francesca; Bolzoni, Luca; Rosà, Roberto; Carpi, Giovanna; Hauffe, Heidi C.; Valent, M; Tagliapietra, Valentina; Kazimírová, Mária; Koči, Juraj; Stanko, Michał; Lukan, M.; Henttonen, Heikki; Rizzoli, Annapaola

doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2012.02.012

Cited by 58 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…These differences have been attributed both to differences in day range between host individuals 215 and differences in resistance against or tolerance for parasites between host species 13,23 . Our results regarding extrinsic factors (deer and predator abundance, and rodent density) are also consistent with previous studies, which Determinants of Tick Burden on Rodents | 89 found an increase in larval burden on rodents with increasing deer density 32 and a decreasing larval burden with increasing rodent density 95,227 . However, we are the first to report a decrease in tick burden with increasing relative abundance of predators.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…This implies that differences in vertebrate assemblage structure, measured as the relative abundance of deer and predators and rodent density, are important causes of spatial differences in I. ricinus burden on rodents. For deer abundance, this relationship is straightforward because more deer can feed more adult ticks, resulting in a larger number of larvae in the environment 32 (Chapter 4). This is reflected by both a higher prevalence and a higher intensity of infestation with larvae on rodents in areas with high deer abundance (Table 5.3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We measured the tick burden on three rodent species, Bank vole (Myodes glareolus), Field vole (Microtus agrestis), and Wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) in 20 forest plots in the Netherlands that differed strongly in their vertebrate assemblage composition, and related these to both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The intrinsic factors were species, sex and body mass, which are known determinants of tick burden on small mammals 32,89,95,215 . The extrinsic factors were the relative abundance of deer, the relative abundance of predators and rodent density.…”

Section: Determinants Of Tick Burden On Rodents | 81mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are several mechanisms by which the presence of other hosts can 'dilute' pathogen prevalence: 1) it can reduce the encounter probability between host species with a high realized reservoir competence and vectors (encounter reduction), 2) it can reduce the number of vectors in the environment (vector regulation), and 3) it can reduce the density of host species with a high realized reservoir competence (reservoir host regulation) 31 . In contrast, the addition of hosts might increase vector density, and therefore the vector burden of reservoir-competent host species (vector augmentation) 32 . There are multiple theoretical studies showing the possibility of mechanisms by which the addition of hosts with a low realized reservoir 12 | Chapter 1 competence can decrease vector-borne pathogen prevalence 27,33 , but there are only a few studies that have investigated these mechanisms empirically 34 .…”

Section: General Introduction | 11mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They feed mainly on rodents as larvae, on rodents, birds and deer as nymphs, and on deer as adults 36,190 (Chapter 2). The number of larvae in the environment is related to the density and activity of deer, which determine the reproductive success of adult ticks 32 (Chapter 4). Small rodents that feed these larvae are reservoirs for multiple tick-borne pathogens such as Babesia microti, Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., Borrelia miyamotoi and Candidatus…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The wild life of tick-borne pathogens

Hofmeester

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Determinants Of Tick Burden On Rodents | 81mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: General Introduction | 11mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The wild life of tick-borne pathogens

Hofmeester

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No net effect of host density on tick‐borne disease hazard due to opposing roles of vector amplification and pathogen dilution

Gandy

Kilbride

Biek

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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To better understand vector‐borne disease dynamics, knowledge of the ecological interactions between animal hosts, vectors, and pathogens is needed. The effects of hosts on disease hazard depends on their role in driving vector abundance and their ability to transmit pathogens. Theoretically, a host that cannot transmit a pathogen could dilute pathogen prevalence but increase disease hazard if it increases vector population size. In the case of Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. and vectored by Ixodid ticks, deer may have dual opposing effects on vectors and pathogen: deer drive tick population densities but do not transmit B. burgdorferi s.l. and could thus decrease or increase disease hazard. We aimed to test for the role of deer in shaping Lyme disease hazard by using a wide range of deer densities while taking transmission host abundance into account. We predicted that deer increase nymphal tick abundance while reducing pathogen prevalence. The resulting impact of deer on disease hazard will depend on the relative strengths of these opposing effects. We conducted a cross‐sectional survey across 24 woodlands in Scotland between 2017 and 2019, estimating host (deer, rodents) abundance, questing Ixodes ricinus nymph density, and B. burgdorferi s.l. prevalence at each site. As predicted, deer density was positively associated with nymph density and negatively with nymphal infection prevalence. Overall, these two opposite effects canceled each other out: Lyme disease hazard did not vary with increasing deer density. This demonstrates that, across a wide range of deer and rodent densities, the role of deer in amplifying tick densities cancels their effect of reducing pathogen prevalence. We demonstrate how noncompetent host density has little effect on disease hazard even though they reduce pathogen prevalence, because of their role in increasing vector populations. These results have implications for informing disease mitigation strategies, especially through host management.

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Ticks on the move—climate change-induced range shifts of three tick species in Europe: current and future habitat suitability for Ixodes ricinus in comparison with Dermacentor reticulatus and Dermacentor marginatus

et al. 2022

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Tick-borne diseases are a major health problem worldwide and could become even more important in Europe in the future. Due to changing climatic conditions, ticks are assumed to be able to expand their ranges in Europe towards higher latitudes and altitudes, which could result in an increased occurrence of tick-borne diseases.There is a great interest to identify potential (new) areas of distribution of vector species in order to assess the future infection risk with vector-borne diseases, improve surveillance, to develop more targeted monitoring program, and, if required, control measures.Based on an ecological niche modelling approach we project the climatic suitability for the three tick species Ixodes ricinus, Dermacentor reticulatus and Dermacentor marginatus under current and future climatic conditions in Europe. These common tick species also feed on humans and livestock and are vector competent for a number of pathogens.For niche modelling, we used a comprehensive occurrence data set based on several databases and publications and six bioclimatic variables in a maximum entropy approach. For projections, we used the most recent IPCC data on current and future climatic conditions including four different scenarios of socio-economic developments.Our models clearly support the assumption that the three tick species will benefit from climate change with projected range expansions towards north-eastern Europe and wide areas in central Europe with projected potential co-occurrence.A higher tick biodiversity and locally higher abundances might increase the risk of tick-borne diseases, although other factors such as pathogen prevalence and host abundances are also important.

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Effects of deer density on tick infestation of rodents and the hazard of tick-borne encephalitis. I: Empirical assessment

Cited by 58 publications

References 35 publications

The wild life of tick-borne pathogens

The wild life of tick-borne pathogens

No net effect of host density on tick‐borne disease hazard due to opposing roles of vector amplification and pathogen dilution

Ticks on the move—climate change-induced range shifts of three tick species in Europe: current and future habitat suitability for Ixodes ricinus in comparison with Dermacentor reticulatus and Dermacentor marginatus

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