REDIA (2004) 87, 99-101
F. Nazzi, N. Milani, I. Bernardinelli and S. Del Fabbro (2004)
An investigation into possible causes of tick proliferation in a Pre-Alpine valley in Northeastern Italy
REDIA 87, 99-101
Abstract: The number of people suffering from tickborne diseases has steadily increased in the italian region of Friuli in the last years; this may be attributed to several factors but the proliferation of ticks in the region under study caused by a lower level of environmental care in mountain areas probably plays a major role in the above-mentioned phenomenon. To test for the hypotesis that abandoned meadows represent a better habitat for ticks, a research was carried out in which tick density in regularly mown open meadows (cultivated meadows) was compared to that observed in meadows where mowing was recently stopped (abandoned meadows). Ticks were sampled by dragging in three sites located in 'Val Resia' (Friuli Venezia Giulia) every fortnight, from April to November of two successive years. In each site a cultivated and an adjacent abandoned meadow were sampled. On the whole 156 Ixodes ricinus ticks belonging to all developmental stages were collected. More ticks were found in abandoned meadows in all sites in both years (fig. I). The difference between abandoned and cultivated is significant (P = 0.016) confirming that periodical mowing helps to maintain lower tick populations. This is probably due to several factors including the higher humidity at the ground level in abandoned meadows where a tick layer of vegetation covers the soil as well as the disturbance that periodical mowing causes on potential tick hosts. Differences in the composition of tick population, possibly resulting from the sampling method, were observed whereas seasonal dynamics were similar in cultivated and abandoned meadows.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Iris Bernardinelli, Francesco Nazzi
Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution
environment - cropping system/rotation
Pest and/or beneficial records:
Beneficial | Pest/Disease/Weed | Crop/Product | Country | Quarant.
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Ixodes ricinus | Italy |