Spatial distribution of sarcoptic mange ( Sarcoptes scabiei ) in urban foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ) in Great Britain as deter
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Spatial distribution of sarcoptic mange (Sarcoptes scabiei) in urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Great Britain as determined by citizen science Dawn M. Scott 1
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Rowenna Baker 2
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Alexandra Tomlinson3 & Maureen J. Berg 2
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Naomi Charman 2 & Bryony A. Tolhurst 2
# The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Urban areas may support high densities of wild carnivores, and pathogens can strongly influence carnivore populations. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are hosts of sarcoptic mange (Sarcoptes scabiei), which infects numerous species, and transmission can be density dependent. In Great Britain, urban red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) have recently increased in population density and undergone range expansions. Here we investigate corresponding changes in urban fox mange prevalence. We predicted a higher prevalence closer to historic epi/enzootics and lower prevalence where urban features reduce fox density and movements, i.e. large areas of public green space, and fragmented habitat, as measured by road length and urban perimeter shape complexity. We visually assessed mange symptoms from georeferenced images of urban foxes submitted online by the public, thus surveying private land on a national scale. We measured the proportion of foxes apparently showing mange and used SATSCAN to identify spatial clusters of high infection risk. Landscape features were extracted from urban layers in GIS to determine associations. Although mange was widespread, we identified a single cluster of high prevalence (37.1%) in Northwest and Central England, which exceeded double mean prevalence overall (15.1%) and mirrors the northward expansion of urban fox distribution. Prevalence was positively correlated with perimeter shape complexity and negatively correlated with distance to the nearest city with mange, although the latter association was weak. Our findings show that citizen science can effectively monitor diseases with highly visible symptoms and suggest that fox movements are influential in explaining spatial patterns of prevalence. Keywords Citizen science . Mange . Red Fox . Sarcoptes . Urban . Vulpes
Introduction Land-use changes associated with increasing global urbanization typically lead to detrimental effects on biodiversity (McKinney 2008). However, some wild species such as the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) are urban exploiters and may reach higher population densities in towns and cities than in rural areas (Smith and Wilkinson 2003; Baker and Harris 2007; Soulsbury and White 2015). In Great Britain (hereafter termed Britain) urban fox distribution has expanded within the last
* Dawn M. Scott [email protected] 1
School of Life Sciences, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK
2
Ecology, Conservation and Zoonosis Research and Enterprise Group, University of Brighton, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
3
Buxton, England
30 years (Scott et al. 2014) with an increase in social group density in some cities that can plausibly be extrapolated nationwide (Scott et al. 2018). Rising wildlife densities can heighten the risk of transmission of pathogen
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