Oja Ragne, Velström Kaisa, Moks Epp, Jokelainen Pikka, Lassen Brian
University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences and Population Medicine, Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia.
Parasitol Res. 2017 Aug;116(8):2131-2137. doi: 10.1007/s00436-017-5512-0. Epub 2017 May 19.
Supplementary feeding is widely used in game management but may aid the transmission of parasites. Firstly, feeding sites attract animals and may be regarded as high-risk areas for parasite transmission. Secondly, high host population densities resulting from and supported by supplementary feeding, as well as accumulation of parasites in the environment, may increase parasite prevalence. Our aim was to investigate whether host density or the number of feeding sites drives endoparasite infection in an Estonian wild boar (Sus scrofa) population. For this, we collected wild boar faeces from forests, and soil samples from supplementary feeding sites in central and south-eastern Estonia. The role of host density and number of feeding sites on both the risk and mean abundance of endoparasite infection was modelled using generalized linear models (GLM). The presence of biohelminths in faecal samples was associated with both wild boar and feeding site density, whereas the presence of Eimeria sp. oocysts in faecal samples was only associated with wild boar density. Helminth eggs were found more often from the soil of active and abandoned feeding sites than from control areas. This could reflect parasitic contamination or indicate that supplementary feeding sites are suitable habitat for soil-dwelling nematodes. These results suggest that the effects of supplementary feeding on parasite prevalence in wild boar are mediated by the characteristics of parasite life cycles.
补充喂养在猎物管理中被广泛使用，但可能有助于寄生虫的传播。首先，喂食地点会吸引动物，可能被视为寄生虫传播的高风险区域。其次，补充喂养导致并维持的高宿主种群密度，以及环境中寄生虫的积累，可能会增加寄生虫的流行率。我们的目的是调查宿主密度或喂食地点的数量是否会驱动爱沙尼亚野猪（Sus scrofa）种群的体内寄生虫感染。为此，我们从森林中收集了野猪粪便，并从爱沙尼亚中部和东南部的补充喂养地点采集了土壤样本。使用广义线性模型（GLM）对宿主密度和喂食地点数量对体内寄生虫感染风险和平均丰度的作用进行了建模。粪便样本中生物蠕虫的存在与野猪和喂食地点密度均相关，而粪便样本中艾美耳属卵囊的存在仅与野猪密度相关。在活跃和废弃的喂食地点的土壤中比在对照区域更常发现蠕虫卵。这可能反映了寄生虫污染，或者表明补充喂养地点是土壤线虫的适宜栖息地。这些结果表明，补充喂养对野猪寄生虫流行率的影响是由寄生虫生命周期的特征介导的。
