Estrada-Peña A
Rev Sci Tech. 2015 Apr;34(1):53-65. doi: 10.20506/rst.34.1.2345.
Ticks are prominent parasites and competent vectors of pathogens that affect both humans and animals. This review outlines and illustrates the main features of the morphology of ticks of the families Ixodidae and Argasidae, and summarises the basic components of their life cycles. It focuses mainly on development processes and mortality among tick populations so as to provide an overview of how they are regulated in nature and how pathogens can be transmitted under such a framework. The effects of the weather on these life cycles are reviewed. The author also examines how landscape structure and biotic factors, such as the presence and abundance of hosts, may shape the density of tick populations. The uncertainty inherent in dealing with the transmission of pathogens by ticks is highlighted; this results from the sometimes complex relationships among the vectors, the climate and the presence and density of host populations. The need to obtain reliable field estimations of such relationships before drawing conclusions about the effects of the isolated components of the system is stressed. A section is devoted to addressing the expected (and not yet totally understood) effects of trends in climate on the spread of ticks, and how these can be analysed and tracked.
蜱虫是显著的寄生虫，也是影响人类和动物的病原体的有效传播媒介。本综述概述并阐述了硬蜱科和软蜱科蜱虫形态的主要特征，并总结了它们生命周期的基本组成部分。它主要关注蜱虫种群的发育过程和死亡率，以便概述它们在自然界中的调节方式以及病原体在这样一个框架下如何传播。综述了天气对这些生命周期的影响。作者还研究了景观结构和生物因素，如宿主的存在和数量，如何影响蜱虫种群的密度。强调了处理蜱虫传播病原体时固有的不确定性；这源于媒介、气候与宿主种群的存在和密度之间有时复杂的关系。强调了在得出关于系统各孤立组成部分的影响的结论之前，需要获得这些关系的可靠实地估计。有一部分专门讨论了气候趋势对蜱虫传播的预期（但尚未完全理解）影响，以及如何对这些影响进行分析和追踪。
