Transmission dynamics of tick-borne Borrelia and rickettsial bacteria in a songbird tick community.

This project aims to increase our understanding, by focussing on: 1) the infestation risk of ticks in woodland songbirds, 2) the capacity of bird-specialized ticks to transmit Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, the causative agents of Lyme disease inhumans, and 3) the mechanisms of the spread of ticks and their diseases by woodland songbirds. The project focuses on two common hole-breeding songbird acting as tick-hosts, and three tick species with totally different life styles that commonly parasitize terrestrial songbirds in Europe and that co-occur in woodlands.

Keywords:SONGBIRDS, EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY, FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY

Disciplines:Animal biology

Project type:Collaboration project