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Cattle and rainfall affect tick abundance in central Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2017

FELICIA KEESING ,
RICHARD S. OSTFELD ,
TRUMAN P. YOUNG  and
BRIAN F. ALLAN
FELICIA KEESING*
Affiliation:
Program in Biology, Bard College, Annandale, New York 12504, USA
RICHARD S. OSTFELD
Affiliation:
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York 12545, USA
TRUMAN P. YOUNG
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA
BRIAN F. ALLAN
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Program in Biology, Bard College, PO Box 5000, Annandale, NY 12504, USA. E-mail: keesing@bard.edu
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Summary

East Africa is a global hot spot for the diversity of ixodid ticks. As ectoparasites and as vectors of pathogens, ticks negatively affect the well-being of humans, livestock and wildlife. To prevent tick infestations, livestock owners and managers typically treat livestock with acaricides that kill ticks when they attempt to feed on livestock hosts. Because of the costs of preventing and mitigating tick parasitism, predicting where and when ticks will be abundant is an important challenge in this region. We used a 7-year monthly record of tick abundance on large experimental plots to assess the effects of rainfall, wildlife and cattle on larvae, nymphs and adults of two common tick species, Rhipicephalus pulchellus and Rhipicephalus praetextatus. Nymphal and adult ticks were more abundant when there had been high cumulative rainfall in the prior months. They were less abundant when cattle were present than when only large wild mammals were. Larval abundance was not affected by the presence of cattle, and larvae did not appear to be sensitive to rainfall in prior months, though they were less abundant in our surveys when rainfall was high in the sampling month. The challenges of managing ticks in this region are being exacerbated rapidly by changes in rainfall patterns wrought by climate change, and by overall increases in livestock, making efforts to predict the impacts of these drivers all the more pressing.

Keywords

ticklivestockRhipicephalusKenyaectoparasiteclimate
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 145 , Issue 3 , March 2018 , pp. 345 - 354
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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