Hosts as ecological traps for the vector of Lyme disease

F Keesing; J Brunner; S Duerr; M Killilea; K LoGiudice; K Schmidt; H Vuong; R. S Ostfeld

doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.1159

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Hosts as ecological traps for the vector of Lyme disease

Journal article

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Hosts as ecological traps for the vector of Lyme disease

F Keesing, J Brunner, S Duerr, M Killilea, K LoGiudice, K Schmidt, H Vuong and R. S Ostfeld

Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences, Vol.276(1675), pp.3911-3919

11/22/2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.1159

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/2376/115395

PMCID: PMC2825780

PMID: 19692412

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Abstract

Lyme disease

diversity

infectious disease

1001

host

vector

zoonotic disease

Research articles

Vectors of infectious diseases are generally thought to be regulated by abiotic conditions such as climate or the availability of specific hosts or habitats. In this study we tested whether blacklegged ticks, the vectors of Lyme disease, granulocytic anaplasmosis and babesiosis can be regulated by the species of vertebrate hosts on which they obligately feed. By subjecting field-caught hosts to parasitism by larval blacklegged ticks, we found that some host species (e.g. opossums, squirrels) that are abundantly parasitized in nature kill 83–96% of the ticks that attempt to attach and feed, while other species are more permissive of tick feeding. Given natural tick burdens we document on these hosts, we show that some hosts can kill thousands of ticks per hectare. These results indicate that the abundance of tick vectors can be regulated by the identity of the hosts upon which these vectors feed. By simulating the removal of hosts from intact communities using empirical models, we show that the loss of biodiversity may exacerbate disease risk by increasing both vector numbers and vector infection rates with a zoonotic pathogen.

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Title: Hosts as ecological traps for the vector of Lyme disease
Creators: F Keesing - Bard College
J Brunner - SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
S Duerr - Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
M Killilea - Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
K LoGiudice - Union College
K Schmidt - Texas Tech University
H Vuong - Rutgers University
R. S Ostfeld - Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Publication Details: Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences, Vol.276(1675), pp.3911-3919
Academic Unit: Biological Sciences, School of
Publisher: The Royal Society
Identifiers: 99900547877401842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article