Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) is maintained in nature by complex zoonotic transmission cycles, involving a large variety of vertebrates as hosts and hard ticks of the genus Ixodes as vectors. Recent studies suggest that the genospecies of B. burgdorferi s.l. and sometimes their subtypes are propagated by different spectra of hosts, mainly birds and rodents. In order to test the concept of host-association, we analysed the relationships between Borrelia genospecies, rodent hosts and I. ricinus ticks in an endemic focus of Lyme borreliosis in western Slovakia. Rodents and questing ticks were collected at a forested low land locality near Bratislava. Tick infestation levels on rodents were determined, and spirochaete infections in ticks and in ear punch biopsies were analysed by PCR followed by genotyping. Mice were more heavily infested with ticks than bank voles, and a higher proportion of mice was infected with spirochactes than voles. However, the infectivity of soles was much higher than that of mice. The vast majority of infections detected in the skin and in ticks feeding on the rodents represented B. afzelii. In contrast, more than half of all infections in questing ticks collected in the same region of Slovakia were identified as B. valaisiana and B. garinii. In conclusion, whilst the study reveals that mice and voles play different quantitative roles in the ecology of Lyme borreliosis, it demonstrates that B. afzelii is specifically maintained by European rodents, validating the concept of host-association of B. burgdorferi s.l.

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Intensification of agriculture has led, among other negative consequences, also to drying out of wetlands. Nevertheless, some of the wetland biotopes were preserved as small spots. This paper discusses the importance of those areas serving as refugia for small terrestrial mammals. Because small terrestrial mammals in the middle of food webs, they serve as an indicator for the presence of food sources (plants and invertebrates) and suggest the potential of the area as a living space for predators. The experiment took place at lowland agricultural landscape with wetland patches in west and west-east Slovakia (Záhorská and Podunajská nížina lowlands) using catch-mark-release method from 2015 to 2017. The importance was assessed according to abundance, biodiversity, persistence of species during seasons and habitat preference of small terrestrial mammals and equitability of the biotopes. Overall 368 individuals belonging to 12 species were recorded. The lowest abundance and diversity were registered at field biotopes where Apodemus sylvaticus was the most abundant. Microtus arvalis, Clethrionomys glareolus and Sorex araneus dominate at wetland biotopes. The higher biodiversity and abundance of small mammals were recorded at the wetland refugia. The results, together with position of small mammals in food webs, lead to conclusion that the wetland refugia are important habitats for the overall preservation of biodiversity and maintaining them is a part of the strategy for sustainable agriculture.

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