Masting by beech trees predicts the risk of Lyme disease.

Background: The incidence of Lyme borreliosis and other tick-borne diseases is increasing in Europe and North America. There is currently much interest in identifying the ecological factors that determine the density of infected ticks as this variable determines the risk of Lyme borreliosis to vertebrate hosts, including humans. Lyme borreliosis is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.

Climate and tree seed production predict the abundance of the European Lyme disease vector over a 15-year period.

Background: To predict the risk of tick-borne disease, it is critical to understand the ecological factors that determine the abundance of ticks. In Europe, the sheep tick (Ixodes ricinus) transmits a number of important diseases including Lyme borreliosis. The aim of this long-term study was to determine the abiotic and biotic factors driving the annual abundance of I.

Susceptibility to infection with Borrelia afzelii and TLR2 polymorphism in a wild reservoir host.

The study of polymorphic immune genes in host populations is critical for understanding genetic variation in susceptibility to pathogens. Controlled infection experiments are necessary to separate variation in the probability of exposure from genetic variation in susceptibility to infection, but such experiments are rare for wild vertebrate reservoir hosts and their zoonotic pathogens. The bank vole (Myodes glareolus) is an important reservoir host of Borrelia afzelii, a tick-borne spirochete that causes Lyme disease.

alters reproductive success in a rodent host.

The impact of a pathogen on the fitness and behaviour of its natural host depends upon the host-parasite relationship in a given set of environmental conditions. Here, we experimentally investigated the effects of one of the aetiological agents of Lyme disease in humans, on the fitness of its natural rodent host, the bank vole (), in semi-natural conditions with two contrasting host population densities. Our results show that can modify the reproductive success and spacing behaviour of its rodent host, whereas host survival was not affected.

The negative effect of wood ant presence on tick abundance.

Background: 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.

Lyme disease bacterium does not affect attraction to rodent odour in the tick vector.

Background: Vector-borne pathogens experience a conflict of interest when the arthropod vector chooses a vertebrate host that is incompetent for pathogen transmission. The qualitative manipulation hypothesis suggests that vector-borne pathogens can resolve this conflict in their favour by manipulating the host choice behaviour of the arthropod vector.

Methods: European Lyme disease is a model system for studying this conflict because Ixodes ricinus is a generalist tick species that vectors Borrelia pathogens that are specialized on different classes of vertebrate hosts.