| Title |
The negative effect of wood ant presence on tick abundance
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Parasites & Vectors, March 2018
|
| DOI | 10.1186/s13071-018-2712-0 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Silvia Zingg, Patrick Dolle, Maarten Jeroen Voordouw, Maren Kern |
| Abstract |
Ticks and tick-borne pathogens are a global problem for the health of humans and their livestock. Wood ants are important ecosystem engineers in forests worldwide. Although both taxa are well studied, little is known about their interactions under natural conditions. The purpose of the present field study was to test whether European red wood ants (Formica polyctena) influence the abundance of Ixodes tick populations in temperate forests. Data collection took place in 130 sampling plots located at 26 ant nest sites paired with 26 control sites in northwestern Switzerland. At each sampling plot, tick abundance, ant abundance, ant nest volume and habitat variables (describing litter, vegetation and microclimate) were measured. We used linear mixed-effect models to analyze the abundance of questing ticks as a function of ant abundance and habitat variables. Ant nest volume, rather than the presence of ants, had a significant negative effect on tick abundance. The number of ticks decreased from 11.2 to 3.5 per 100 m2if the volume of the adjacent ant nest increased from 0.1 m3to 0.5 m3. Additionally, high vegetation cover and litter depth had negative and positive relationships with tick abundance, respectively. We showed that the number of questing ticks was negatively correlated with the size of red wood ant nests. Further studies are needed to identify the mechanisms that drive the relationship. Possible mechanisms include the repellent effect of ant formic acid, and the predatory behavior of wood ants. The present field study suggests that red wood ants provide a new ecosystem service by reducing the local abundance of Ixodes ticks. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 27 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 6 | 22% |
| United Kingdom | 4 | 15% |
| Australia | 2 | 7% |
| Hungary | 1 | 4% |
| Unknown | 14 | 52% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 23 | 85% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 3 | 11% |
| Scientists | 1 | 4% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 57 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 57 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 14 | 25% |
| Researcher | 10 | 18% |
| Student > Bachelor | 6 | 11% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 3 | 5% |
| Student > Master | 2 | 4% |
| Other | 3 | 5% |
| Unknown | 19 | 33% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 17 | 30% |
| Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine | 6 | 11% |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 4 | 7% |
| Environmental Science | 3 | 5% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 5% |
| Other | 5 | 9% |
| Unknown | 19 | 33% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 32. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 April 2018.
All research outputs
#1,181,180
of 24,541,341 outputs
Outputs from Parasites & Vectors
#164
of 5,769 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#26,835
of 338,366 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Parasites & Vectors
#9
of 185 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,541,341 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,769 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.0. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 185 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.