Tick infestation of birds across a gradient of urbanization intensity in the United States Great Plains

Abstract

Migratory birds play an important role in large-scale movements of ticks and tick-borne pathogens, yet little is known about tick infestation of resident birds (e.g., non-migratory species and migratory species during the breeding season), especially in urban ecosystems. We captured birds during the breeding season in parks and greenspaces in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, to evaluate overall tick infestation patterns and to determine if urbanization influences infestation prevalence (the proportion of birds parasitized) and intensity (the number of ticks on infested birds). Of 459 birds, 111 (24.2%) had ≥ 1 tick, a high proportion of infestation compared with past North American studies. The most frequently infested species were Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus; 56%), Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum; 37%), and Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis; 27%). The Lone Star Tick (Amblyomma americanum) comprised half (51%; n = 322) of all ticks on birds; other species sampled included Gulf Coast Tick (A. maculatum) (36%) and Rabbit Tick (Haemaphysalis leporispalustris) (13%). Urbanization intensity (i.e., the percentage of developed land around sites) was inversely related to infestation prevalence for all birds combined and for Carolina Wren, but intensity of infestation was unrelated to urbanization. Our results suggest that non-migratory and migratory birds during sedentary periods are important carriers of ticks in urban areas, and that tick infestation patterns can be influenced by the level of urbanization in the surrounding landscape. Clarifying how urban birds influence tick populations, and how urbanization shapes bird-tick interactions, will increase understanding of tick-borne disease ecology in urban ecosystems.

Factors influencing abundance of 3 tick species across a gradient of urban development intensity in the US Great Plains

“…This lack of significant association of deer with A. americanum abundance suggests that other hosts, such as birds, mesomammals (raccoons), or small mammals, may be just as important to the distribution and abundance of A. americanum in urban areas. Support for this hypothesis is provided by a companion study conducted in the same 16 parks; this study found that at least 24% of birds carried at least 1 tick, and that A. americanum comprised 51% of all ticks found on birds (Roselli et al 2022). The current study only evaluated deer abundance during 1 season.…”

“…Past research on I. scapularis in urban areas suggests that abundance of this vector tick species may decrease with increasing urbanization (Jobe et al 2007, Rydzewski et al 2012, Diuk-Wasser et al 2021), while other studies of A. americanum and A. maculatum also show the same lack of association with urbanization that we found for these species (Fornadel et al 2011, Blanton et al 2014, Noden et al 2017). These species-specific patterns may reflect varying levels of adaptability to the abiotic conditions and vegetation and host communities associated with urban areas; different movements, habitat use, and thus, patterns of association with urban landscapes for each species' primary wildlife hosts (Roselli et al 2022); and/ or differences in tick detectability across the urban development gradient (i.e., ticks harder to detect when they occur in highly urbanized areas). For D. variabilis , populations in rural areas are known to be highly clustered and most commonly found in agricultural areas (Trout-Fryxell et al 2015); therefore, we hypothesize that this species' negative association with urban development in our study could reflect a lack of suitable, agricultural habitat in highly urbanized landscapes.…”

Monetary evaluation of supporting ecosystem services as a habitat provider for birds in Thailand urban park

“…On the contrary, an extremely dense population of some species in cities can have negative effects on human health, economy, and food production. Haaksma et al (2022) given that avian influenza affects all birds, particularly migratory birds (Lycett et al 2019); parasites can be transferred from Rock pigeon (Al-Barwari and Saeed 2012); House sparrow can be infested by ticks (Roselli et al 2022); and filth (Eurasian tree sparrow, Eastern jungle crow, Rock pigeon, Whitevened Myna, etc.). When compared to forest birds, urban birds showed more investigative behavior, antagonism, and a faster breathing rate (Caizergues et al 2022), including different behavior due to variations in food and preferences (Tryjanowski et al 2011;Lowry et al 2012).…”

Unique Host-Parasite Relationships from Wildlife and Pets at a Zoological Medicine Service at Central Oklahoma

“…Because of the host-specific nature of most ectoparasites, regional host-ectoparasite relationships are difficult to identify for many wildlife hosts because of challenges involved in collecting from live animals. Many studies use mist-netting (Cerutti et al 2018, Roselli et al 2022), but they collect only certain orders of birds, leaving most bird species unavailable because they often involve complicated trapping techniques and specific permits. Live-animal trapping is commonly used for wild animals, but current studies trap one or two host species as part of a larger focus (Pirrello et al 2015, Bezerra-Santos et al 2021, Levesque-Beaudin and Sinclair 2021 or continue to use randomness of roadkill or road injury cases to obtain samples (McAllister et al 2018(McAllister et al , 2019Lavallée et al 2020).…”