Geographical and environmental factors driving the increase in the Lyme disease vector Ixodes scapularis
Geographical and environmental factors driving the increase in the Lyme disease vector Ixodes scapularis
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DOI：
10.1890/es12-00134.1
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发表时间：
2012-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Brisson, Dustin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Khatchikian, Camilo E.;Prusinski, Melissa;Brisson, Dustin
在近代历史上，许多生物的种群密度发生了巨大的变化。与医学有关的生物体种群密度的增加对公共卫生特别重要，因为它们往往与人类人口中传染病的出现有关。我们的目标是描述北美一种常见的疾病媒介--黑腿扁虱密度的增加，并确定与这些种群动态相关的环境因素。捕捉人口增长的经验数据通常是确定与这些动态相关的环境因素所必需的。我们在地理信息系统的框架下分析了现场采集的时间和空间结构数据，以描述黑腿硬蜱的种群增长，并识别与这些动态相关的环境和气候因素。在整个研究的时间和空间范围内，扁虱的密度都在增加。壁虱密度的增加与温和的气温、低降雨量、低森林覆盖率和高度城市化呈正相关。重要的是，考虑到这些环境因素的模型准确地预测了该地区未来的扁虱密度。壁虱密度沿南北向梯度呈逐年递增趋势。这些趋势与通常由肩周肌引起的人类疾病发病率的增加相平行。例如，我的肩胛虫密度与人类莱姆病发病率相关，尽管是以一种非线性的方式，在低密度的情况下消失，潜在地表明需要一个阈值密度来支持莱姆病细菌的流行病学相关水平。我们的结果证明了该物种的生物地理学和公共卫生之间的联系。
The population densities of many organisms have changed dramatically in recent history. Increases in the population density of medically relevant organisms are of particular importance to public health as they are often correlated with the emergence of infectious diseases in human populations. Our aim is to delineate increases in density of a common disease vector in North America, the blacklegged tick, and to identify the environmental factors correlated with these population dynamics. Empirical data that capture the growth of a population are often necessary to identify environmental factors associated with these dynamics. We analyzed temporally-and spatially-structured field collected data in a geographical information systems framework to describe the population growth of blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) and to identify environmental and climatic factors correlated with these dynamics. The density of the ticks increased throughout the study's temporal and spatial ranges. Tick density increases were positively correlated with mild temperatures, low precipitation, low forest cover, and high urbanization. Importantly, models that accounted for these environmental factors accurately forecast future tick densities across the region. Tick density increased annually along the south-to-north gradient. These trends parallel the increases in human incidences of diseases commonly vectored by I. scapularis. For example, I. scapularis densities are correlated with human Lyme disease incidence, albeit in a non-linear manner that disappears at low tick densities, potentially indicating that a threshold tick density is needed to support epidemiologically-relevant levels of the Lyme disease bacterium. Our results demonstrate a connection between the biogeography of this species and public health.