Changes in the activity of adult stages of Dermacentor reticulatus (Ixodida: Amblyommidae) induced by weather factors in eastern Poland

Abstract

BackgroundThe host-seeking activity in Dermacentor reticulatus ticks undergoes rhythmical changes correlated with environmental conditions. Therefore, this study is focused on investigating the activity of adult stages of the species during weather changes occurring in winter months in eastern Poland, i.e. a period of tick diapause.MethodsD. reticulatus ticks were collected in a meadow ecosystem near Lublin (eastern Poland, 51°36'N, 22°58'E) between the third decade of November 2011 and the third decade of January 2012. During each collection, temperature and humidity were measured at the soil surface and at a height of 25 cm and the differences (delta) in the parameters between the two measurement points were calculated.ResultsDuring one hour of our observation, from 0 to 42 specimens were collected, with the greatest numbers (25-40 specimens) between late November and mid- December. The activity of adult D. reticulatus (females and males in total) depended on soil and air temperature (r = -0.6986, p < 0.05). Soil and air humidity did not exert an impact on the questing behaviour of adult stages. In turn, the greater the moisture delta between these two measurement points was, the greater the activity of the adult tick stages was observed.Our investigations have demonstrated differences in the questing behaviour between D. reticulatus females and males correlated with environmental conditions. The temperatures of soil and air increased the migratory activity in females but did not affect migration of male ticks. In turn, the deltas of temperatures (r = -0.6986, p < 0.05) and humidity (r = 0.6829, p < 0.05) did not have a statistically significant effect on stimulation of female activity but they induced significant changes on the behaviour of males, for which we found a highly negative correlation between the number of active specimens and the temperature delta (r = -0.7276, p < 0.05) and a highly positive correlation with the humidity delta (r = 0.8199, p < 0.01).ConclusionsWeather changes can be accompanied by activity of adult D. reticulatus even in their winter diapause period. Therefore, there is an increased threat to human and animal health posed by tick-borne diseases.

A survey on murine gammaherpesvirus 68 in ticks collected in Slovakia

“…However, results are particularly interesting because I. ricinus ticks were collected at a relatively high altitude ~621 m above sea level (near Banská Štiavnica town). It correlates with recent data regarding the extension of areas and the shift in the altitudinal distribution limit and abundance of ticks in Europe including Slovakia (Dautel et al, 2006;Wielinga et al, 2006;Buczek et al, 2013;Lukáň et al, 2010;Hubálek and Rudolf, 2012). Finding of MHV-68 in I. ricinus nymphs infesting on lizards, which serve as particularly important host of immature I. ricinus ticks (Casher et al, 2002), has given rise to the hypothesis that MHV-68 might be vertically transmitted from nymphs to adults (Ficová et al, 2011).…”

The Potential Role of Migratory Birds in the Rapid Spread of Ticks and Tick-Borne Pathogens in the Changing Climatic and Environmental Conditions in Europe

“…The relevance of this issue is supported by predictions of further expansion of the area of tick occurrence and an increase in the population size of these arthropods in different parts of the world [29][30][31][32][33]. This may result in an increase in the number of tick infestations of hosts, including birds, and expansion of the areas of prevalence of tick-borne diseases.…”

Prevalence of infections and co-infections with 6 pathogens in <i>Dermacentor reticulatus</i> ticks collected in eastern Poland

“…Both populations are separated by a gap not inhabited by D. reticulatus, which is shrinking because of rapid expansion of marsh ticks to new areas. The spatial expansion of D. reticulatus in Poland is associated with the increase of the number of ticks which, in some areas of central and eastern Poland, became dominant over I. ricinus [10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17]. These findings indicate a growing significance of marsh ticks as potential vectors of tick-borne diseases [8,16].…”