Artificial Feeding of All Consecutive Life Stages of Ixodes ricinus

Militzer, Nina; Bartel, Alexander; Clausen, Peter‐Henning; Hoffmann-Köhler, Peggy; Nijhof, Ard M.

doi:10.3390/vaccines9040385

Cited by 18 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…This could be explained by the depletion of questing ticks in the habitat of fawns and the turnover of ticks feeding on fawns. Indeed, as ticks take their blood meal on hosts for few days (i.e., in average 3 days for nymphs and larvae and 7 days for adults; [16]) before falling to the ground, where they molt or lay eggs [15], the number of ticks gained after this age is probably counterbalanced by the number of ticks that detach themselves and fall off. Factors linked to environmental conditions therefore seem to partly drive the between-individual heterogeneity of infestation by ticks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we used the mean values of the temperature (T, in °C) and relative humidity (RH, in %) of the capture day and 4 days before this day. Indeed, nymph and larvae of ticks take a blood meal on their host during in average 3 days, and adult in 7 days, before to detach and fall off [16]. We therefore considered a mean duration of blood meal of 5 days, explaining why we took the weather conditions into account during this time.…”

Section: O Data On the Population Of Roe Deer And The Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[13] and Tick-borne encephalitis virus [14]. This three-host tick species takes one blood meal on their host per life stage (3 life stages: larva, nymph and adult), with blood meals lasting for few days (2-12 days according to their life-stage; [15,16]) before falling in the environment where it moults into the next stage or lay eggs and die [17]. As this tick completes its life cycle in at least 3 years [15], it spends most its life free in the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parasitized or non-parasitized, why? A study of factors influencing tick burden in roe deer neonates

Bariod

Saı̈d

Calenge

et al. 2022

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Ixodes ricinus , the most common species of tick in Europe, is known to transmit major pathogens to animals and humans such as Babesia spp. or Borrelia spp.. Its abundance and distribution have been steadily increasing in Europe during recent decades, due to global environmental changes. Indeed, as ticks spend most of their life in the environment, their activity and life cycle are highly dependent on environmental conditions, and therefore on climate or habitat changes. Simultaneously, wild ungulates have expanded their range and increased dramatically in abundance worldwide, in particular roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus ), have allowed tick populations to grow and spread. Currently, tick infestation on newborn wild ungulates is poorly documented. However, newborn ungulates are considered more sensitive to tick bites and pathogen transmission because of their immature immune system. Thus, improving knowledge about the factors influencing tick infestation on newborns is essential to better understand their health risks. This study was conducted at Trois-Fontaines forest, Champagne-Ardenne, France (1992-2018). Based on a long-term monitoring of roe deer fawns, we used a novel Bayesian model of the infestation of fawns to identify which biotic or abiotic factors are likely to modify the level of infestation by ticks of 965 fawns over time. We show that tick burden increased faster during the first days of life of the fawns and became constant when fawns were 5 days old and more, which could be explained by the depletion of questing ticks or the turnover of ticks feeding on fawns. Moreover, the humidity, which favors tick activity, was weakly positively related to the tick burden. Our results demonstrate that tick infestation was highly variable among years, particularly between 2000 and 2009. We hypothesize that this results from a modification of habitat caused by hurricane Lothar.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: O Data On the Population Of Roe Deer And The Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Parasitized or non-parasitized, why? A study of factors influencing tick burden in roe deer neonates

Bariod

Saı̈d

Calenge

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…In total, 57.5% of nymphs and 71.2% of females from the current study engorged, which is in line with previous data from artificial feeding on non-infected blood (47.7% and 80.7%, respectively) [ 19 , 30 ]. The mean weight of nymphs in our study (2.71–3.21 mg) corresponds to the mean weight of nymphs (2.8 mg) fed in the same artificial feeding system [ 31 ]. In our experiment, there were no significant differences in the mean weights of females fed on Bartonella -spiked blood (166.58 mg) and those from the negative control group (189.57 mg).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Transmission Paths for Three Different Bartonella spp. in Ixodes ricinus Ticks Using Artificial Feeding

et al. 2021

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Bartonellae are facultative intracellular alpha-proteobacteria often transmitted by arthropods. Ixodes ricinus is the most important vector for arthropod-borne pathogens in Europe. However, its vector competence for Bartonella spp. is still unclear. This study aimed to experimentally compare its vector competence for three Bartonella species: B. henselae, B. grahamii, and B. schoenbuchensis. A total of 1333 ticks (1021 nymphs and 312 adults) were separated into four groups, one for each pathogen and a negative control group. Ticks were fed artificially with bovine blood spiked with the respective Bartonella species. DNA was extracted from selected ticks to verify Bartonella-infection by PCR. DNA of Bartonella spp. was detected in 34% of nymphs and females after feeding. The best engorgement results were obtained by ticks fed with B. henselae-spiked blood (65.3%) and B. schoenbuchensis (61.6%). Significantly more nymphs fed on infected blood (37.3%) molted into adults compared to the control group (11.4%). Bartonella DNA was found in 22% of eggs laid by previously infected females and in 8.6% of adults molted from infected nymphs. The transovarial and transstadial transmission of bartonellae suggest that I. ricinus could be a potential vector for three bacteria.

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“…[ 13 ], and tick-borne encephalitis virus [ 14 ]. This three-host tick species take one blood meal on their host per life stage (3 life stages: larva, nymph, and adult), with blood meals lasting for a few days (2–12 days according to their life stage; [ 15 , 16 ]) before dropping off the host onto the ground where they molt into the next stage or lay eggs and die [ 17 ]. As this tick spends most its life free in the environment, its survival, development, and questing activity are highly dependent on the weather conditions and microclimate [ 18 , 19 ], including temperature and relative humidity or saturation deficit [ 20 , 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasitized or non-parasitized, why? A study of factors influencing tick burden in roe deer neonates

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ixodes ricinus, the most common species of tick in Europe, is known to transmit major pathogens to animals and humans such as Babesia spp. or Borrelia spp. Its abundance and distribution have been steadily increasing in Europe during recent decades, due to global environmental changes. Indeed, as ticks spend most of their life in the environment, their activity and life cycle are highly dependent on environmental conditions and therefore, on climate or habitat changes. Simultaneously, wild ungulates have expanded their range and increased dramatically in abundance worldwide, in particular roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), allowing tick populations to grow and spread. Currently, tick infestation on newborn wild ungulates is poorly documented. However, newborn ungulates are considered more sensitive to tick bites and pathogen transmission because of their immature immune systems. Thus, improving knowledge about the factors influencing tick infestation on newborns is essential to better understand their health risks. This study was conducted at Trois-Fontaines Forest, Champagne-Ardenne, France (1992–2018). Based on a long-term monitoring of roe deer fawns, we used a novel Bayesian model of the infestation of fawns to identify which biotic or abiotic factors were likely to modify the level of infestation by ticks of 965 fawns over time. We show that tick burden increased faster during the first days of life of the fawns and became constant when fawns were five days old and more, which could be explained by the depletion of questing ticks or the turnover of ticks feeding on fawns. Moreover, despite the known positive influence of humidity on tick activity, the tick burdens were weakly related to this parameter. Our results demonstrate that tick infestation was highly variable among years, particularly between 2000–2009. We hypothesize that this results from a modification of habitat caused by Hurricane Lothar.

show abstract

Artificial Feeding of All Consecutive Life Stages of Ixodes ricinus

Cited by 18 publications

References 69 publications

Parasitized or non-parasitized, why? A study of factors influencing tick burden in roe deer neonates

Parasitized or non-parasitized, why? A study of factors influencing tick burden in roe deer neonates

Evaluating Transmission Paths for Three Different Bartonella spp. in Ixodes ricinus Ticks Using Artificial Feeding

Parasitized or non-parasitized, why? A study of factors influencing tick burden in roe deer neonates

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