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Assessing Infestation Risk by Vectors: Spatial and Temporal Distribution of African Ticks at the Scale of a Landscape
Author(s) -
De GARINEWICHATITSKY M.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb05293.x
Subject(s) - ungulate , vector (molecular biology) , tick , scale (ratio) , ecology , hyalomma , livestock , distribution (mathematics) , rhipicephalus , forage , spatial distribution , host (biology) , biology , geography , ixodidae , habitat , cartography , remote sensing , mathematics , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , gene , recombinant dna
A bstract : Control of major livestock diseases in the tropics, such as theileriosis or trypanosomosis, is still largely based on the control of their vectors. Understanding the distribution of vectors, such as ticks and tsetse flies, is needed in order to improve the efficiency and economical viability of control operations. Technical improvements such as remote sensing and global information systems have allowed valuable improvements for the prediction of large‐scale vector distribution (continental to national), but trying to make these predictions at the scale of a landscape is facing other challenges. At this scale, an analysis of host/vector interactions with an evolutionary point of view is useful. A study was undertaken on a mixed game/cattle ranch in Zimbabwe during which we monitored variations in the abundance and spatial distribution of the immature free stages of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus/R. zambeziensis and R. e. evertsi , 1,2 two major groups of tick species in Southern Africa. We found two contrasting distributions in relation to contact between tick larvæ. The ungulate‐host R. e. evertsi appeared to be unpredictable, whereas R. appendiculatus/R. zambeziensis were predictable in time and space, but associated with key‐resources for ungulates (water and forage resources). The consequences of such distributions are discussed in terms of vector control.