Host movement and time of year influence tick parasitism in Pantanal birds
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Host movement and time of year influence tick parasitism in Pantanal birds Alan Fecchio1 · Thiago F. Martins2 · Jeffrey A. Bell3 · Gabriel M. De LaTorre4 · Elaine R. Bueno5 · Moises J. Malaquias5 · João B. Pinho1,5 · Marcelo B. Labruna2 · Raphael I. Dias6,7 Received: 6 February 2020 / Accepted: 28 July 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Ticks are among the best studied parasitic groups as they spread important pathogens of medical and veterinary importance worldwide. Migratory birds can play an important role in transporting ticks infected with pathogens across wide geographic regions. It is therefore important to understand which factors promote tick parasitism rates across their avian hosts and the associated potential for disease spread. Here, we identified the host attributes of infestation probability of ticks from the genus Amblyomma in 955 birds from Pantanal, Brazil. Infestation rates exhibited considerable variation across the 129 avian species surveyed and were explained by both host ecological traits and evolutionary history. The probability of an individual bird being infested with immature ticks (larvae and/or nymphs) was higher across resident bird species that forage at ground level and during the wet season. Bird species that feed on vertebrates were less likely to be infested by ticks. Other ecological traits known to promote tick exposure (age, body mass, social behavior, and sex) did not predict infestation probability. Our findings demonstrate that tick occurrence in Pantanal birds is determined by avian host attributes, but tick occurrence throughout the year constrains exposure to host-seeking ticks. Moreover, the ecology of the avian host might prevent the potential spread of tick-borne diseases outside Pantanal as migratory hosts are likely less infested by ticks. Keywords Amblyomma · Avian migration · Ectoparasites · Ixodidae · Parasite dispersal
Introduction Ticks are ectoparasites that feed on blood of terrestrial and flying vertebrates and are distributed across a wide range of zoogeographical regions and environmental conditions (Guglielmone et al. 2003; Nava et al. 2017). Due to their feeding behavior and Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s1049 3-020-00530-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Alan Fecchio [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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Experimental and Applied Acarology
affinity to humans, livestock, domestic and wild animals, ticks act as vectors for a broad diversity of pathogens of medical and veterinary importance (Dantas-Torres et al. 2012). Such a worldwide distribution and broad host usage associated with their capacity to act as vectors for many zoonotic and emerging diseases, make these hematophagous invertebrates an excellent model to study spatial epidemiology and its effects on biodiversity (Allen et al. 2017; Rizzoli et al. 2019). Therefore, determining the f
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