RCG One Health approach to tick-borne disease control through manipulation of reservoir host communities at landscape scale

英国的2050年净零碳政策包含了每年种植数百万棵树的大胆计划，以扩大林地和森林的土地覆盖范围，不仅有助于封存碳，还有助于随着气候变化降低当地气温。虽然这是一个合理的抱负，但土地利用的这种变化可能会导致不受欢迎的非本土物种和疾病的传播。因此，必须对这些计划进行评估，以制定强有力的战略，避免我们的干预措施带来的意想不到的后果，以减缓气候变化并实现净零社会。灰松鼠是英国的一种入侵物种，对当地红松鼠的保护具有不利影响，对树木和森林的剥皮破坏估计每年给英国经济造成3700万英镑的损失。灰松鼠现在分布在英国大部分地区，是许多栖息地的主要小型哺乳动物，也是以它们为食的重要扁虱宿主。以灰松鼠为食的壁虱可以感染松鼠血液中的感染，并可以将这些感染传播给被感染的壁虱叮咬的人，特别是莱姆病。莱姆病的感染人数在英国各地都在增加，苏格兰、英格兰西南部和英格兰南部是感染莱姆病的热点地区。英国许多地区正在努力控制灰松鼠，以帮助受到灰松鼠威胁的当地红松鼠种群。这项计划得到了广泛的公众支持，并试图通过避孕措施人道地控制灰松鼠。一些专家认为，移除灰松鼠本身就可以降低莱姆病的风险，但这一点尚未得到证实。这是因为其他野生动物也可以以扁虱为食，目前还不清楚当灰松鼠被移走时，疾病风险会发生什么。我们的项目计划通过确定灰松鼠数量减少时会发生什么，以及这对扁虱和疾病的影响来回答这个问题。我们计划寻找控制或监测扁虱的新方法，通过确定什么吸引和排斥它们。我们还计划开发预测模型，预测未来随着英国变得更多的林地和森林，那里的气候也在变化，以及这将对灰松鼠种群及其寄生的壁虱和疾病意味着什么。最后，我们计划与公众接触，特别是那些试图拯救红松鼠的人，以及更广泛的公众及其对松鼠、壁虱和莱姆病等传染病的态度，以确保我们了解人们的关切，以及如何最好地应对不断变化的环境和气候。

The UK's Net Zero 2050 policy contains bold plans to plant millions of trees each year to expand landcover in woodlands and forests, not only helping to sequester carbon but also helping to lower local temperatures as the climate changes. While this is a valid ambition, such changes in land use may have implications for the spread of unwanted non-native species and disease. As such these plans must be evaluated to develop a robust strategy and avoid unintended consequences from our interventions to mitigate climate change and achieve a net zero society.The grey squirrel is an invasive species in the UK, with detrimental impacts on the conservation of the native red squirrel and with bark stripping damage to trees and forests that is estimated to cost the UK economy £37 million per year. Grey squirrels, now distributed through most of Great Britain, are the dominant small mammal in many habitats and important hosts of ticks that feed on them. The ticks that feed on grey squirrels can pick up infections in the squirrel's blood and can transmit these infections to people bitten by infected ticks, notably Lyme disease. The number of people contracting Lyme disease is growing in all parts of the UK, with hotspots in Scotland, the southwest of England and southern England. Efforts to control grey squirrels are under way in many parts of the UK, to help the native red squirrel populations which are under threat by greys. This programme has wide public support and is trying to control grey squirrels humanely using contraceptives. Some experts have argued that the removal of grey squirrels by itself could result in a reduction in Lyme disease risk, but this has not yet been proven. This is because other wild animals can be fed upon by ticks, and it is not clear what will happen when grey squirrels are removed in terms of disease risk. Our project plans to answer this question by determining what happens when grey squirrel populations are being reduced, and how this affects ticks and diseases. We plan to look at novel ways of controlling or monitoring ticks by determining what attracts and repels them. We also plan to develop predictive models on what would happen as the UK becomes more covered in woodlands and forests in the future where climate is also changing, and what this would mean for grey squirrel populations, and the ticks and diseases they host. Finally we plan to engage with the public, particularly those trying to save the red squirrel, but also the wider public and their attitudes towards squirrels, ticks and infections such as Lyme disease to ensure we understand people's concerns and how best to deal with a changing environment and climate.