Department of Parasitology, School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia.
Int J Parasitol. 2021 Mar;51(4):241-249. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2020.08.011. Epub 2021 Jan 26.
The eastern paralysis tick, Ixodes holocyclus, is an ectoparasite of medical and veterinary importance in Australia. The feeding of I. holocyclus is associated with an ascending flaccid paralysis which kills many dogs and cats each year, with the development of mammalian meat allergy in some humans, and with the transmission of Rickettsia australis (Australian scrub typhus) to humans. Although I. holocyclus has been well studied, it is still not known exactly why this tick cannot establish outside of its present geographic distribution. Here, we aim to account for the presence as well as the absence of I. holocyclus in regions of Australia. We modelled the climatic requirements of I. holocyclus with two methods, CLIMEX, and a new envelope-model approach which we name the 'climatic-range method'. These methods allowed us to account for 93% and 96% of the geographic distribution of I. holocyclus, respectively. Our analyses indicated that the geographic range of I. holocyclus may not only shift south towards Melbourne, but may also expand in the future, depending on which climate-change scenario comes to pass.
东部麻痹蜱，即全沟硬蜱，是澳大利亚一种具有医学和兽医学重要性的外寄生虫。全沟硬蜱的叮咬会导致上行性弛缓性瘫痪，每年导致许多狗和猫死亡，一些人类会发展出哺乳动物肉过敏，以及澳大利亚立克次体（澳大利亚丛林斑疹伤寒）向人类传播。尽管全沟硬蜱已经得到了很好的研究，但它仍然不清楚为什么这种蜱虫不能在其现有地理分布范围之外建立种群。在这里，我们旨在解释全沟硬蜱在澳大利亚各地区存在和缺失的原因。我们使用两种方法，即 CLIMEX 和我们命名为“气候范围法”的新包络模型方法，对全沟硬蜱的气候需求进行建模。这两种方法分别使我们能够解释 93%和 96%的全沟硬蜱地理分布。我们的分析表明，全沟硬蜱的地理范围不仅可能向南向墨尔本移动，而且未来还可能扩大，这取决于哪种气候变化情景成为现实。
