Fabri Nannet D, Hofmeester Tim R, Ecke Frauke, Sprong Hein, Timmermans Jordi, Heesterbeek Hans, Cromsigt Joris P G M
Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Forest Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83, Umeå, Sweden.
Department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 7, 3584 CL, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Curr Res Parasitol Vector Borne Dis. 2024 Jul 31;6:100206. doi: 10.1016/j.crpvbd.2024.100206. eCollection 2024.
Species composition and densities of wild ungulate communities in Europe have changed over the last decades. As ungulates play an important role in the life-cycle of the tick species , these changes could affect both the life-cycle of and the transmission of tick-borne pathogens like () and . Due to morphological and behavioural differences among the ungulate species, these species might have different effects on the densities of questing , either directly through a bloodmeal or indirectly the impact of ungulates on rodent numbers the vegetation. In this study, we aimed to investigate these direct and indirect effects of five different ungulate species, fallow deer (), roe deer (), red deer (), moose (), and wild boar (), on the presence and abundance of ticks. In the summer of 2019, on 20 1 × 1 km transects in south-central Sweden that differed in ungulate community composition, we collected data on tick presence and abundance (by dragging a cloth), ungulate community composition (using camera traps), vegetation height (using the drop-disc method), temperature above field layer and rodent abundance (by snap-trapping). Using generalized linear mixed models we did not find any associations between vegetation height and tick presence/abundance or ungulate visitation frequencies, or between ungulate visitation frequencies and the presence/abundance of questing . The power of our analyses was, however, low due to very low tick and rodent numbers. We did find a negative association between adult ticks and air temperature, where we were more likely to find adult ticks if temperature in the field layer was lower. We conclude that more elaborate long-term studies are needed to elucidate the investigated associations. Such future studies should differentiate among the potential impacts of different ungulate species instead of treating all ungulate species as one group.
在过去几十年中，欧洲野生有蹄类动物群落的物种组成和密度发生了变化。由于有蹄类动物在蜱虫物种的生命周期中起着重要作用，这些变化可能会影响蜱虫的生命周期以及蜱传病原体（如伯氏疏螺旋体（Borrelia burgdorferi）和巴贝斯虫（Babesia））的传播。由于有蹄类动物物种之间存在形态和行为差异，这些物种可能对宿主蜱虫的密度产生不同影响，要么直接通过吸血，要么间接通过有蹄类动物对啮齿动物数量和植被的影响。在本研究中，我们旨在调查五种不同有蹄类动物，即黇鹿（Dama dama）、狍（Capreolus capreolus）、马鹿（Cervus elaphus）、驼鹿（Alces alces）和野猪（Sus scrofa），对宿主蜱虫的存在和丰度的这些直接和间接影响。2019年夏天，在瑞典中南部20个1×1公里的样带上，这些样带的有蹄类动物群落组成不同，我们收集了蜱虫存在和丰度（通过拖布法）、有蹄类动物群落组成（使用相机陷阱）、植被高度（使用落盘法）、地表温度和啮齿动物丰度（通过陷阱法）的数据。使用广义线性混合模型，我们没有发现植被高度与蜱虫存在/丰度或有蹄类动物访问频率之间的任何关联，也没有发现有蹄类动物访问频率与宿主蜱虫的存在/丰度之间的关联。然而，由于蜱虫和啮齿动物数量非常少，我们分析的效力很低。我们确实发现成年蜱虫与气温之间存在负相关，即如果地表温度较低，我们更有可能发现成年蜱虫。我们得出结论，需要更详尽的长期研究来阐明所研究的关联。未来的此类研究应区分不同有蹄类动物物种的潜在影响，而不是将所有有蹄类动物物种视为一个群体。
