Ticks and tick-borne diseases in the city: Role of landscape connectivity and greenspace characteristics in a metropolitan area
Creators
- 1. Interuniversity Institute for Biostatistics and statistical Bioinformatics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium
Description
Greenspacesinthecityareimportantforhumanwellbeing,butarealsozonesinwhichhumanscanbecomein-
fectedwithzoonoticdiseases.Therefore,thereisaneedtounderstandhowinfectionriskisrelatedtogreenspace
characteristics,wildlifecommunitiesandconnectivitywithruralareashostingreservoirpopulationsofhosts.
Our hypothesisisthatwildlifehostsinurbangreenspaces,andtherebytheprevalenceofquestingticksand
their Lymediseasecausingpathogens(Borreliaburgdorferi s.l.), canbepartlypredictedbasedongreenspace
characteristicsaswellasmeasuresofconnectivitytoknownsourceareas.Wesampledticksintwenty-two
greenspacesduringSpring(2014and2016)andAutumn2016,locatedalonganurbanizationgradientinAnt-
werp(Belgium).Morethan18,000m2 wassampled,withtickdensitiesrangingfrom0to386individuals/
100m2. Weestimatedconnectivityusingtheleast-costalgorithmaseitherthecostdistancetothenearest
greenspace,ortoaknownpopulationofroedeer(Capreoluscapreolus),knowntobeanimportanttickpropaga-
tionhost.Bothconnectivitymeasuresturnedouttobecorrelated,reflectingagradientingreenspaceisolation
fromtheperipherytotheurbancenter.In87%ofplotswhereticksweretrapped,atleastone Borrelia-infected
tickwasfound.Theoverall Borrelia-prevalenceinnymphswas17.8%,inadults32.6%.Densityofinfectedticksde-
creasedwithurbanizationandincreasedwithconnectivity.Nymphsinlargergreenspacesweremorelikelytobe
infected.Whiledensityandinfectionprevalenceforadultsincreasedwiththeamountofneighboringagricultural
land, thelarvaldensityandnymphalinfectionprevalencedecreased.Interestingly,theproportionof Borrelia
genospeciesassociatedwithbirdsormammalswascomparableinruraland(sub)urbanareas(bird/mammal:
0.38),suggestingthateveninsmallgreenspaces Borrelia infectionscanpersistinlocalhostpopulations.
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Ticks and tick-borne diseases in the city.pdf
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