Department of Biological Science, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, 117558, Singapore.
Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2021 May;12(3):101654. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2021.101654. Epub 2021 Jan 19.
Ticks of small mammals pose a significant risk to public health but these hazards are poorly understood in the tropics due to the paucity of information on the disease ecology of ticks in these regions. Mapping and quantifying the diversity of small mammal/tick networks and the effects of habitat on these medically important systems is key to disease prevention. Singapore represents a microcosm of much of tropical Asia as it has a diverse, though poorly studied, community of ticks and small mammals. Singapore also has a range of terrestrial habitats exhibiting a gradient of degradation. Small mammals and their ticks were sampled across the island in four main habitat types (old secondary forest, young secondary forest, scrubland, urban) across 4.5 years. Four tick species were collected (Amblyomma helvolum, Dermacentor auratus, Haemaphysalis semermis, Ixodes granulatus) from 10 small mammal species. Habitat was found to have a significant effect on both the abundance and structure of tick communities on small mammals. Old secondary forest communities had the highest tick abundance, comparatively high connectance, niche overlap (among ticks), linkage density, and were the preferred habitat of the zoonotic tick I. granulatus. Therefore, future disease spillover is likely to emerge from small mammal-tick communities in old secondary forests.
小型哺乳动物的蜱虫对公共健康构成重大威胁，但由于这些地区蜱虫疾病生态学信息匮乏，因此热带地区对这些危害的了解甚少。绘制和量化小型哺乳动物/蜱虫网络的多样性，并研究生境对这些具有医学重要性的系统的影响，是预防疾病的关键。新加坡是热带亚洲的一个缩影，因为它拥有多样化但研究不足的蜱虫和小型哺乳动物群落。新加坡还有一系列陆地生境，具有不同程度的退化。在 4.5 年的时间里，在四个主要生境类型（旧次生林、年轻次生林、灌丛、城市）中对全岛的小型哺乳动物及其蜱虫进行了采样。从 10 种小型哺乳动物中采集到了 4 种蜱虫（环纹硬蜱、亚洲璃眼蜱、微小牛蜱、革质革蜱）。生境对小型哺乳动物上的蜱虫群落的丰度和结构都有显著影响。旧次生林群落的蜱虫丰度最高，比较连接度高、生态位重叠（在蜱虫之间）、联络密度高，也是人畜共患蜱虫 I. granulatus 的首选栖息地。因此，未来疾病溢出很可能从小型哺乳动物-蜱虫群落中出现在旧次生林中。
