title: Quantitative ecology of ticks as a basis for transmission models of tick-borne pathogens.
abstract: Tick population ecology is the basis of spatiotemporal variation in the risk of infection by tick-borne pathogens. The continental distribution of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Europe is statistically associated with a specific pattern of the seasonal dynamics of Ixodes ricinus, and a particular characteristic of the seasonal land surface temperature profile. A tick population model would allow us to move from this statistical analysis to a biological, process-based model for TBE virus and the many other pathogens vectored by Ixodes spp. ticks in Europe and the United States. Long-term field data on I. ricinus are analyzed to provide empirical estimates of rates of the major demographic processes, development, questing, attachment to hosts, and mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. sarah.randolph@zoology.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Randolph
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004463:Ecology; D005060:Europe; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis; D008954:Models, Biological; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012621:Seasons; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D013987:Ticks / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids