ArticleParasites & vectors2020
Climate and tree seed production predict the abundance of the European Lyme disease vector over a 15-year period.
Article in Parasites & vectors, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Northward expansion of the thermal limit for the tick Ixodes ricinus over the past 40 years.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Coinfection ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Article
- Xenodiagnosis in the wild: A methodology to investigate infectiousness for tick-borne bacteria in a songbird reservoir.Current research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2024Article
- Correlation between airborne pollen data and the risk of tick-borne encephalitis in northern Italy.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Spatial and seasonal determinants of Lyme borreliosis incidence in France, 2016 to 2021.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2023Article
- Rodent-targeted approaches to reduce acarological risk of human exposure to pathogen-infected Ixodes ticks.Ticks and tick-borne diseases · 2023Review
- Global Change and Emerging Infectious Diseases.Annual review of resource economics · 2022Article
- Climate Changes Exacerbate the Spread ofInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Meteorological and climatic variables predict the phenology of Ixodes ricinus nymph activity in France, accounting for habitat heterogeneity.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- MASTREE+: Time-series of plant reproductive effort from six continents.Global change biology · 2022Article
- The evolving story of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato transmission in Europe.Parasitology research · 2022Review
- Beech tree masting explains the inter-annual variation in the fall and spring peaks of Ixodes ricinus ticks with different time lags.Parasites & vectors · 2021Article
- Ticks, Human Babesiosis and Climate Change.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Rodent host population dynamics drive zoonotic Lyme Borreliosis and Orthohantavirus infections in humans in Northern Europe.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Global warming impact on the expansion of fundamental niche of Cryptococcus gattii VGI in Europe.Environmental microbiology reports · 2021Article
- Exploratory Space-Time Analyses of Reported Lyme Borreliosis Cases in France, 2016-2019.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Masting by beech trees predicts the risk of Lyme disease.Parasites & vectors · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
backgroundTo predict the risk of tick-borne disease, it is critical to understand the ecological factors that determine the abundance of ticks. In Europe, the sheep tick (Ixodes ricinus) transmits a number of important diseases including Lyme borreliosis. The aim of this long-term study was to determine the abiotic and biotic factors driving the annual abundance of I. ricinus at a location in Switzerland where Lyme borreliosis is endemic.
methodsOver a 15-year period (2004 to 2018), we monitored the abundance of I. ricinus ticks on a monthly basis at three different elevations on Chaumont Mountain in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. We collected climate variables in the field and from nearby weather stations. We obtained data on beech tree seed production from the literature, as the abundance of Ixodes nymphs can increase dramatically two years after a masting event. We used AIC-based model selection to determine which ecological variables drive annual variation in tick density.
resultsWe found that elevation site, year, seed production by beech trees two years prior, and mean annual relative humidity together explained 73.2% of the variation in our annual estimates of nymph density. According to the parameter estimates of our models, (i) the annual density of nymphs almost doubled over the 15-year study period, (ii) changing the beech tree seed production index from very poor mast (1) to full mast (5) increased the abundance of nymphs by 86.2% two years later, and (iii) increasing the field-collected mean annual relative humidity from 50.0 to 75.0% decreased the abundance of nymphs by 46.4% in the same year. Climate variables collected in the field were better predictors of tick abundance than those from nearby weather stations indicating the importance of the microhabitat.
conclusionsFrom a public health perspective, the increase in nymph abundance is likely to have increased the risk of tick-borne disease in this region of Switzerland. Public health officials in Europe should be aware that seed production by deciduous trees is a critical driver of the abundance of I. ricinus, and hence the risk of tick-borne disease.
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