Randolph S E
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
Parasitology. 2004;129 Suppl:S37-65. doi: 10.1017/s0031182004004925.
The population ecology of ticks is fundamental to the spatial and temporal variation in the risk of infection by tick-borne pathogens. Tick population dynamics can only be fully understood by quantifying the rates of the demographic processes, which are influenced by both abiotic (climatic) factors acting on the free-living tick stages and biotic (host) responses to the tick as a parasite. Within the framework of a population model, I review methods and results of attempts to quantify (1) rates of tick development and the probability of diapause, (2) the probability of questing for hosts by unfed ticks, (3) the probability of ticks attaching to a host, and (4) tick mortality rates. Biologically, these processes involve the physiological and behavioural response of ticks to temperature, moisture stress and day length that result in specific patterns of seasonal population dynamics and host relationships. Temperate and tropical patterns will be illustrated with reference mostly to Ixodes ricinus and Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, respectively.
蜱的种群生态学是蜱传病原体感染风险时空变化的基础。只有通过量化人口统计学过程的速率，才能全面理解蜱的种群动态，这些过程既受到作用于自由生活蜱阶段的非生物（气候）因素的影响，也受到生物（宿主）对作为寄生虫的蜱的反应的影响。在种群模型的框架内，我回顾了量化以下方面的尝试的方法和结果：（1）蜱的发育速率和滞育概率，（2）未进食蜱寻找宿主的概率，（3）蜱附着于宿主的概率，以及（4）蜱的死亡率。从生物学角度来看，这些过程涉及蜱对温度、水分胁迫和日照长度的生理和行为反应，这些反应导致了季节性种群动态和宿主关系的特定模式。温带和热带模式将分别主要参考蓖麻硬蜱和附加扇头蜱进行说明。
