ArticleInternational journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife2013
Tick infestation patterns in free ranging African buffalo (Syncercus caffer): Effects of host innate immunity and niche segregation among tick species.
Article in International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Hard Tick Species Parasitism Levels in Domestic Ruminants with Their Distribution and Role as Vectors: A Detailed Global Meta-analysis and Systematic Review.Acta parasitologica · 2024Pooled it
- Macroimmunology: The drivers and consequences of spatial patterns in wildlife immune defence.The Journal of animal ecology · 2020Pooled it
- Patterns of tick infestation and tick-borne pathogen prevalence in sika deer and brown bears in Hokkaido, Japan.Experimental & applied acarology · 2025Article
- Targeted molecular screening for protozoan parasites in wild platypuses (International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2025Article
- Scent detection dogs detect a species of hard tick, Dermacentor albipictus, with comparable accuracy and efficiency to traditional tick drag surveys.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- The Bacterial and pathogenic landscape of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) whole blood and serum from Kenya.Animal microbiome · 2025Article
- Ecological relationships ofParasitology · 2024Article
- Co-infection patterns in the ectoparasitic community affecting the Iberian ibex Capra pyrenaica.Parasites & vectors · 2023Article
- Molecular detection ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Prevalence and tick loads in Nguni cattle reared in different environmental conditions across four provinces of South Africa.Veterinary world · 2022Article
- Detailed new insights about tick infestations in domestic ruminant groups: a global systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of parasitic diseases : official organ of the Indian Society for Parasitology · 2022Review
- Comparative vector competence of North American Lyme disease vectors.Parasites & vectors · 2020Article
- Social and endocrine correlates of immune function in meerkats: implications for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis.Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- Ixodid ticks of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), impala (Aepyceros melampus) and elephant (Loxodonta africana) in five protected park estates in the Zambezi valley, Zimbabwe.Experimental & applied acarology · 2018Article
- Prevalence of tick-borne haemoparasites in small ruminants in Turkey and diagnostic sensitivity of single-PCR and RLB.Parasites & vectors · 2017Article
- Ixodid ticks parasitizing wild carnivores in Romania.Experimental & applied acarology · 2017Article
- Predators, environment and host characteristics influence the probability of infection by an invasive castrating parasite.Oecologia · 2017Article
- Host body size and the diversity of tick assemblages on Neotropical vertebrates.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2016Article
- Ecology of the interaction between Ixodes loricatus (Acari: Ixodidae) and Akodon azarae (Rodentia: Criceridae).Parasitology research · 2015Article
- Ethnoecological knowledge of ticks and treatment of tick-borne diseases among Maasai people in Northern Tanzania.Veterinary world · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ticks are of vast importance to livestock health, and contribute to conflicts between wildlife conservation and agricultural interests; but factors driving tick infestation patterns on wild hosts are not well understood. We studied tick infestation patterns on free-ranging African buffalo (Syncercus caffer), asking (i) is there evidence for niche segregation among tick species?; and (ii) how do host characteristics affect variation in tick abundance among hosts? We identified ticks and estimated tick burdens on 134 adult female buffalo from two herds at Kruger National Park, South Africa. To assess niche segregation, we evaluated attachment site preferences and tested for correlations between abundances of different tick species. To investigate which host factors may drive variability in tick abundance, we measured age, body condition, reproductive and immune status in all hosts, and examined their effects on tick burdens. Two tick species were abundant on buffalo, Amblyomma hebraeum and Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi. A. hebraeum were found primarily in the inguinal and axillary regions; R. e. evertsi attached exclusively in the perianal area. Abundances of A. hebraeum and R. e. evertsi on the host were unrelated. These results suggest spatial niche segregation between A. hebraeum and R. e. evertsi on the buffalo. Buffalo with stronger innate immunity, and younger buffalo, had fewer ticks. Buffalo with low body condition scores, and pregnant buffalo, had higher tick burdens, but these effects varied between the two herds we sampled. This study is one of the first to link ectoparasite abundance patterns and immunity in a free-ranging mammalian host population. Based on independent abundances of A. hebraeum and R. e. evertsi on individual buffalo, we would expect no association between the diseases these ticks transmit. Longitudinal studies linking environmental variability with host immunity are needed to understand tick infestation patterns and the dynamics of tick-borne diseases in wildlife.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.