College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana IL, USA.
J Med Entomol. 2022 Mar 16;59(2):700-709. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjab189.
The range of ticks in North America has been steadily increasing likely, in part, due to climate change. Along with it, there has been a rise in cases of tick-borne disease. Among those medically important tick species of particular concern are Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae), Dermacentor variabilis Say (Acari: Ixodidae), and Amblyomma americanum Linneaus (Acari: Ixodidae). The aim of this study was to determine if climate factors explain existing differences in abundance of the three aforementioned tick species between two climatically different regions of Illinois (Central and Southern), and if climate variables impact each species differently. We used both zero-inflated regression approaches and Bayesian network analyses to assess relationships among environmental variables and tick abundance. Results suggested that the maximum average temperature and total precipitation are associated with differential impact on species abundance and that this difference varied by region. Results also reinforced a differential level of resistance to desiccation among these tick species. Our findings help to further define risk periods of tick exposure for the general public, and reinforce the importance of responding to each tick species differently.
北美的蜱虫分布范围一直在稳步扩大,这可能部分归因于气候变化。随着蜱虫分布范围的扩大,蜱传疾病的病例也有所增加。在这些具有重要医学意义的蜱种中,特别值得关注的是肩突硬蜱(Ixodes scapularis Say)(蜱螨目:硬蜱科)、变色革蜱(Dermacentor variabilis Say)(蜱螨目:硬蜱科)和美洲钝缘蜱(Amblyomma americanum Linneaus)(蜱螨目:硬蜱科)。本研究旨在确定气候因素是否可以解释伊利诺伊州(中部和南部)两个气候差异地区三种上述蜱种丰度的现有差异,以及气候变量是否对每个物种产生不同的影响。我们使用零膨胀回归方法和贝叶斯网络分析来评估环境变量与蜱丰度之间的关系。结果表明,最高平均温度和总降水量与物种丰度的差异有关,且这种差异因地区而异。结果还进一步证实了这些蜱种之间对干燥的抵抗力存在差异。我们的研究结果有助于进一步确定公众暴露于蜱虫的风险期,并强调对每种蜱种采取不同的应对措施的重要性。