ReviewFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology2013
Host specialization in ticks and transmission of tick-borne diseases: a review.
Review in Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 102 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
102 citing papers in PubMed.
- Investigation of Parasitic Ticks and the Potential Tick-Borne Pathogenic Fungi in Yunnan Province, Southwest China.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Tick Diversity Associated with the European Brown Hare (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Why we need more individual-based parasite research.Parasites & vectors · 2026Review
- Northernmost record of Ornithodoros (Alectorobius) puertoricensis (Acari: Argasidae) in Coahuila, Mexico.Experimental & applied acarology · 2026Article
- Contrasting geographic patterns of parasite and hantavirus diversity in the rodent Oligoryzomys longicaudatus (Rodentia, Cricetidae).PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Drivers of tick community structure in a rhinoceros meta-population in Kenya.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2026Article
- Characterization of bacterial microbiome and molecular detection of rickettsiosis in free-living ticks (Amblyomma sculptum Berlese, 1888).Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Ecological review of AfrotropicalCurrent research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2026Review
- Tick species diversity, seasonality and feeding behavior in small wild mammals in the northern foothills of the Dabie Mountains, China.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2025Article
- Linking tick and wildlife host distributions to map risk of tick-borne diseases.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Beyond Species Richness: The Importance of Phylogenetic Dimensions of Biodiversity in Disease Ecology.Integrative and comparative biology · 2025Review
- Article
- Behavioral and Morphological Adaptations of Tortoise TickEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Host-Specificity and Network Structure of Tick Microbiota in Co-Distributed Species From the Iberian Peninsula.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Comprehensive study of ticks and tick-borne diseases in dogs in Nepal: molecular identification, risk analysis and hematological alterations.BMC veterinary research · 2025Article
- Host-Pathogen-Vector Continuum in a Changing Landscape: Potential Transmission Pathways forEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Genomic Insights into Vector-Pathogen Adaptation inPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- Zoonotic Bacteria and Vector-Borne Protozoa in Troglophilus Bat Colonies in Sicily (Southern Italy): A Biomolecular Survey.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Determining patterns of host use, and the frequency at which these patterns change, are of key importance if we are to understand tick population dynamics, the evolution of tick biodiversity, and the circulation and evolution of associated pathogens. The question of whether ticks are typically host specialists or host generalists has been subject to much debate over the last half-century. Indeed, early research proposed that morphological diversity in ticks was linked to host specific adaptations and that most ticks were specialists. Later work disputed this idea and suggested that ticks are largely limited by biogeographic conditions and tend to use all locally available host species. The work presented in this review suggests that the actual answer likely lies somewhere between these two extremes. Although recent observational studies support the view that phylogenetically diverse host species share ticks when found on similar ecological ranges, theory on host range evolution predicts that host specialization should evolve in ticks given their life history characteristics. Contemporary work employing population genetic tools to examine host-associated population structure in several tick systems support this prediction and show that simple species records are not enough to determine whether a parasite is a true host generalist; host specialization does evolve in ticks at local scales, but may not always lead to speciation. Ticks therefore seem to follow a pattern of being global generalists, local specialists. Given this, the notion of host range needs to be modified from an evolutionary perspective, where one simply counts the number of hosts used across the geographic distribution, to a more ecological view, where one considers host use at a local scale, if we are to better understand the circulation of tick-borne pathogens and exposure risks for humans and livestock.
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