Reduced Abundance of<i>Ixodes scapularis</i>(Acari: Ixodidae) and the Tick Parasitoid<i>Ixodiphagus hookeri</i>(Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) with Reduction of White-Tailed Deer

Stafford, Kirby C.; DeNicola, Anthony J.; Kilpatrick, Howard J.

doi:10.1603/0022-2585-40.5.642

Cited by 99 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Similarly, reducing deer density from >90 km −2 to 10 km −2 at Bluff Point coastal reserve in Groton, CT, only reduced tick density below 20 deer per km 2 ( Fig. 2B) (31).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Deer, predators, and the emergence of Lyme disease

Levi¹,

Kilpatrick²,

Mangel

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

266

189

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Lyme disease is the most prevalent vector-borne disease in North America, and both the annual incidence and geographic range are increasing. The emergence of Lyme disease has been attributed to a century-long recovery of deer, an important reproductive host for adult ticks. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that Lyme disease risk may now be more dynamically linked to fluctuations in the abundance of small-mammal hosts that are thought to infect the majority of ticks. The continuing and rapid increase in Lyme disease over the past two decades, long after the recolonization of deer, suggests that other factors, including changes in the ecology of small-mammal hosts may be responsible for the continuing emergence of Lyme disease. We present a theoretical model that illustrates how reductions in small-mammal predators can sharply increase Lyme disease risk. We then show that increases in Lyme disease in the northeastern and midwestern United States over the past three decades are frequently uncorrelated with deer abundance and instead coincide with a range-wide decline of a key small-mammal predator, the red fox, likely due to expansion of coyote populations. Further, across four states we find poor spatial correlation between deer abundance and Lyme disease incidence, but coyote abundance and fox rarity effectively predict the spatial distribution of Lyme disease in New York. These results suggest that changes in predator communities may have cascading impacts that facilitate the emergence of zoonotic diseases, the vast majority of which rely on hosts that occupy low trophic levels.

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“…Similarly, reducing deer density from >90 km −2 to 10 km −2 at Bluff Point coastal reserve in Groton, CT, only reduced tick density below 20 deer per km 2 ( Fig. 2B) (31).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Deer, predators, and the emergence of Lyme disease

Levi¹,

Kilpatrick²,

Mangel

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

266

189

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Consistent with previous studies (Estrada-Peña, 2001;Lindström and Jaenson, 2003), we found a higher abundance of ticks in oak stands compared to pine stands and a higher tick abundance in fragmented forest sites with a high amount of forest edge habitat, which is most likely related to more optimal environmental conditions and a higher density and activity of the tick's main hosts. Many prior studies have stressed the importance of deer in maintaining tick populations: Gray et al (1992) and Pichon et al (1999) for I. ricinus in Europe and Duffy et al (1994) and Stafford et al (2003) for I. scapularis in the United States. Roe deer are the most common large mammals in the study area and, thus, are probably the most important hosts for adult ticks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local habitat and landscape affect Ixodes ricinus tick abundances in forests on poor, sandy soils

Tack

Madder

Baeten

et al. 2012

Forest Ecology and Management

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A large fraction of the forests in northern Belgium consists of homogeneous pine stands on nutrientpoor and acid sandy soils. However, in common with many other parts of Europe, the current forest management aims at increasing the share of deciduous and mixed forests. This might create favourable habitats for the tick Ixodes ricinus, which is Europe's main vector of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis in humans. Considering the threat to human health, it is important to know which factors regulate tick abundance. The influence of local habitat and landscape variables on the abundance of I. ricinus ticks were studied by collecting questing larvae, nymphs, and adults at 176 locations in forests in the Campine region (northern Belgium). Both I. ricinus ticks and B. burgdorferi spirochetes occurred throughout the study area, which means that the entire region represents an area of risk for contracting Lyme borreliosis. At the forest stand level, the main tree species and the shrub cover significantly affected the abundance of all life stages of I. ricinus. The abundance was higher in oak stands compared to pine stands, and increased with increasing shrub cover. Additionally, at the landscape level, a positive effect was found for forest edge length but not for forest cover. These patterns may be explained by the habitat preferences of the tick's main hosts. Our results indicate that forest conversion might indeed create suitable habitats for ticks, which highlights the need for intensive information campaigns and effective tick control measures.

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“…Increasing patch distance is indicative of suburban development, ideal habitat for deer populations. In turn, deer population densities have been shown to be positively associated with tick density (Stafford et al 2003;Wilson et al 1985). On the other hand, white-tailed deer are not competent reservoirs for B. burgdorferi (Telford et al 1988).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest fragmentation predicts local scale heterogeneity of Lyme disease risk

et al. 2005

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Fragmentation of the landscape has been proposed to play an important role in defining local scale heterogeneity in Lyme disease risk through influence on mammalian host density and species composition. We tested this observed relationship in a suburban region around Lyme, Connecticut, where we collected data on the density of the tick vector, Ixodes scapularis and prevalence of the Lyme bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi at 30 sites. Analysis of the landscape pattern of forest patches was performed using satellite imagery. The calculated landscape indices, which included patch size and isolation, revealed a positive link between fragmentation and both tick density and infection prevalence in ticks. In spite of higher entomologic risk, human incidence of Lyme disease is lower in fragmented contexts suggesting that entomologic risk is not the critical driver of human infections. These results represent a departure from the prior claims that fragmentation and human Lyme disease risk are positively linked. A complete understanding of the influence of landscape fragmentation will allow for improved risk mapping and potential environmental management of Lyme disease.

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Reduced Abundance ofIxodes scapularis(Acari: Ixodidae) and the Tick ParasitoidIxodiphagus hookeri(Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) with Reduction of White-Tailed Deer

Cited by 99 publications

References 29 publications

Deer, predators, and the emergence of Lyme disease

Deer, predators, and the emergence of Lyme disease

Local habitat and landscape affect Ixodes ricinus tick abundances in forests on poor, sandy soils

Forest fragmentation predicts local scale heterogeneity of Lyme disease risk

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