title: Salt licks do not increase local densities of the deer ked, Lipoptena cervi, an abundant ectoparasite of cervids.
abstract: The deer ked, Lipoptena cervi (Diptera: Hippoboscidae), is a common ectoparasite of the moose, Alces alces (Artiodactyla: Cervidae). Salt licks are widely used to manipulate moose movements to prevent damage to saplings and traffic accidents. They may cause moose to gather in small areas, which could create aggregates of deer ked pupae as the parasite is a short-distance flyer and its dispersion depends on its hosts. We investigated whether the population density of flying deer keds could be influenced by manipulating salt licks and how environmental variables affect parasite density. Densities were estimated in 40 experimental sites with four treatments (no salt licks, introduced salt licks, removed salt licks, permanent salt licks) in September during 2007-2010. Forest edges, mixed forests on mineral soil and coniferous forests on peat soil were the habitats with high numbers of parasites. The manipulation of salt licks seemed to be ineffective in reducing the density of deer keds as the only factor to show statistical significance with parasite numbers in the mixed-model analysis was year of determination. Annual deer ked densities correlated with the abundance of moose in the region. Moreover, high spring and summer temperatures seemed to increase the numbers of flying imagos.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Forestry, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland; Institute of Biomedicine/Anatomy, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paakkonen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Roininen
authors.forename: A-M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mustonen
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D003670:Deer / Q000469:parasitology*; D004175:Diptera / Q000502:physiology*; D004478:Ectoparasitic Infestations / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011156:Population Density; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride
keywords: Alces alces; Hippoboscidae; flying season; habitat; moose