Infestation of small seabirds by Ornithodoros maritimus ticks: Effects on chick body condition, reproduction and associated infectious agents

Ana Sanz-Aguilar; Ana Payo-Payo; Andreu Rotger; Lena Yousfi; Sara Moutailler; Cecile Beck; Marine Dumarest; José Manuel Igual; Miguel Ángel Miranda; Mariana Viñas Torres; Virginia Picorelli; Amandine Gamble; Thierry Boulinier

doi:10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.101281

Infestation of small seabirds by Ornithodoros maritimus ticks: Effects on chick body condition, reproduction and associated infectious agents

Ana Sanz-Aguilar^* (Corresponding Author), Ana Payo-Payo, Andreu Rotger, Lena Yousfi, Sara Moutailler, Cecile Beck, Marine Dumarest, José Manuel Igual, Miguel Ángel Miranda, Mariana Viñas Torres, Virginia Picorelli, Amandine Gamble, Thierry Boulinier

^*Corresponding author for this work

Aberdeen Centre For Environmental Sustainability

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

11 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Ticks can negatively affect their host by direct effects as blood feeding causing anaemia or discomfort, or by pathogen transmission. Consequently, ticks can have an important role in the population dynamics of their hosts. However, specific studies on the demographic effects of tick infestation on seabirds are still scarce. Seabird ticks have also the potential to be responsible for the circulation of little known tick-borne agents, which could have implications for non-seabird species. Here, we report the results of investigations on potential associations between soft tick Ornithodoros maritimus load and reproductive parameters of storm petrels Hydrobates pelagicus breeding in a large colony in a cave of Espartar Island, in the Balearic archipelago. We also investigated by molecular analyses the potential viral and bacterial pathogens associated with O. maritimus ticks present at the colony. Lower nestling survival was recorded in the most infested area, deep in the cave, compared to the area near the entrance. The parasite load was negatively associated with the body condition of the nestlings. One pool of ticks tested positive for West Nile virus and 4 pools tested positive for a Borrelia species which was determined by targeted nested PCR to have a 99% sequence identity with B. turicatae, a relapsing fever Borrelia. Overall, these results show that further investigations are needed to better understand the ecology and epidemiology of the interactions between ticks, pathogens and Procellariiform species.

Original language	English
Article number	101281
Journal	Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases
Volume	11
Issue number	1
Early online date	25 Aug 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.101281
Publication status	Published - Jan 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding
This Project was partially funded by the Govern Balear (Acciones Especiales, AAEE031/2017) and the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Universities (RESET, ref: CGL2017-85210-P). ASA was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Universities Innovation and Universities, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación and the European Social Found (RYC-2017- 22796).

Data accessibility
Data will be available via the Spanish National Research Council data repository. Sanz-Aguilar, A., Payo-Payo, A., Igual, J. M., Rotger, A., Viñas Torres, M., Picorelli, V., 2019. Storm petrel data sets. https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/.

Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgements
We thank Esteban Cardona, Oliver Martínez, Raül Luna, Toni Avila, Esther López Marín, Miquel Mas, Enric Real y Santiago de la Vega for their help and support on the colony monitoring. Balearic Islands Government, Sant Josep City Hall, COFIB and Fundación Balearia for their logistic support.

Ethical statement
This study was authorized by the Reserves des Vedrà es Vedranell i els illots de Ponent, Balearic Government. All aspects of the study were performed according to guidelines established for the ethical treatment of animals and complied with current Spanish regulations. The collection of ticks was authorized by the Balearic Government (Reference: CAP 21/2018).

Keywords

Borrelia
Mortality
Soft ticks
Storm petrels
Tick-borne pathogens
WNV
SURVIVAL
TICKS IXODES-URIAE
BORRELIA
WEST-NILE-VIRUS
PENGUINS
IXODIDA ARGASIDAE
RICKETTSIA
FLAVIVIRUS
RELAPSING FEVER
DESERTION

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.101281Licence: Unspecified

SanzAguilar_etal_Ticks_AAM
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Accepted author manuscript, 381 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/Licence: Unspecified

Cite this

Sanz-Aguilar, A., Payo-Payo, A., Rotger, A., Yousfi, L., Moutailler, S., Beck, C., Dumarest, M., Igual, J. M., Miranda, M. Á., Viñas Torres, M., Picorelli, V., Gamble, A., & Boulinier, T. (2020). Infestation of small seabirds by Ornithodoros maritimus ticks: Effects on chick body condition, reproduction and associated infectious agents. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, 11(1), Article 101281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.101281

Sanz-Aguilar, A, Payo-Payo, A, Rotger, A, Yousfi, L, Moutailler, S, Beck, C, Dumarest, M, Igual, JM, Miranda, MÁ, Viñas Torres, M, Picorelli, V, Gamble, A & Boulinier, T 2020, 'Infestation of small seabirds by Ornithodoros maritimus ticks: Effects on chick body condition, reproduction and associated infectious agents', Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, vol. 11, no. 1, 101281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.101281

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title = "Infestation of small seabirds by Ornithodoros maritimus ticks: Effects on chick body condition, reproduction and associated infectious agents",

abstract = "Ticks can negatively affect their host by direct effects as blood feeding causing anaemia or discomfort, or by pathogen transmission. Consequently, ticks can have an important role in the population dynamics of their hosts. However, specific studies on the demographic effects of tick infestation on seabirds are still scarce. Seabird ticks have also the potential to be responsible for the circulation of little known tick-borne agents, which could have implications for non-seabird species. Here, we report the results of investigations on potential associations between soft tick Ornithodoros maritimus load and reproductive parameters of storm petrels Hydrobates pelagicus breeding in a large colony in a cave of Espartar Island, in the Balearic archipelago. We also investigated by molecular analyses the potential viral and bacterial pathogens associated with O. maritimus ticks present at the colony. Lower nestling survival was recorded in the most infested area, deep in the cave, compared to the area near the entrance. The parasite load was negatively associated with the body condition of the nestlings. One pool of ticks tested positive for West Nile virus and 4 pools tested positive for a Borrelia species which was determined by targeted nested PCR to have a 99% sequence identity with B. turicatae, a relapsing fever Borrelia. Overall, these results show that further investigations are needed to better understand the ecology and epidemiology of the interactions between ticks, pathogens and Procellariiform species.",

keywords = "Borrelia, Mortality, Soft ticks, Storm petrels, Tick-borne pathogens, WNV, SURVIVAL, TICKS IXODES-URIAE, BORRELIA, WEST-NILE-VIRUS, PENGUINS, IXODIDA ARGASIDAE, RICKETTSIA, FLAVIVIRUS, RELAPSING FEVER, DESERTION",

author = "Ana Sanz-Aguilar and Ana Payo-Payo and Andreu Rotger and Lena Yousfi and Sara Moutailler and Cecile Beck and Marine Dumarest and Igual, {Jos{\'e} Manuel} and Miranda, {Miguel {\'A}ngel} and {Vi{\~n}as Torres}, Mariana and Virginia Picorelli and Amandine Gamble and Thierry Boulinier",

note = "Funding This Project was partially funded by the Govern Balear (Acciones Especiales, AAEE031/2017) and the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Universities (RESET, ref: CGL2017-85210-P). ASA was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Universities Innovation and Universities, the Agencia Estatal de Investigaci{\'o}n and the European Social Found (RYC-2017- 22796). Data accessibility Data will be available via the Spanish National Research Council data repository. Sanz-Aguilar, A., Payo-Payo, A., Igual, J. M., Rotger, A., Vi{\~n}as Torres, M., Picorelli, V., 2019. Storm petrel data sets. https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/. Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Acknowledgements We thank Esteban Cardona, Oliver Mart{\'i}nez, Ra{\"u}l Luna, Toni Avila, Esther L{\'o}pez Mar{\'i}n, Miquel Mas, Enric Real y Santiago de la Vega for their help and support on the colony monitoring. Balearic Islands Government, Sant Josep City Hall, COFIB and Fundaci{\'o}n Balearia for their logistic support. Ethical statement This study was authorized by the Reserves des Vedr{\`a} es Vedranell i els illots de Ponent, Balearic Government. All aspects of the study were performed according to guidelines established for the ethical treatment of animals and complied with current Spanish regulations. The collection of ticks was authorized by the Balearic Government (Reference: CAP 21/2018).",

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doi = "10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.101281",

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AU - Payo-Payo, Ana

AU - Rotger, Andreu

AU - Yousfi, Lena

AU - Moutailler, Sara

AU - Beck, Cecile

AU - Dumarest, Marine

AU - Igual, José Manuel

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AU - Viñas Torres, Mariana

AU - Picorelli, Virginia

AU - Gamble, Amandine

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AB - Ticks can negatively affect their host by direct effects as blood feeding causing anaemia or discomfort, or by pathogen transmission. Consequently, ticks can have an important role in the population dynamics of their hosts. However, specific studies on the demographic effects of tick infestation on seabirds are still scarce. Seabird ticks have also the potential to be responsible for the circulation of little known tick-borne agents, which could have implications for non-seabird species. Here, we report the results of investigations on potential associations between soft tick Ornithodoros maritimus load and reproductive parameters of storm petrels Hydrobates pelagicus breeding in a large colony in a cave of Espartar Island, in the Balearic archipelago. We also investigated by molecular analyses the potential viral and bacterial pathogens associated with O. maritimus ticks present at the colony. Lower nestling survival was recorded in the most infested area, deep in the cave, compared to the area near the entrance. The parasite load was negatively associated with the body condition of the nestlings. One pool of ticks tested positive for West Nile virus and 4 pools tested positive for a Borrelia species which was determined by targeted nested PCR to have a 99% sequence identity with B. turicatae, a relapsing fever Borrelia. Overall, these results show that further investigations are needed to better understand the ecology and epidemiology of the interactions between ticks, pathogens and Procellariiform species.

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KW - FLAVIVIRUS

KW - RELAPSING FEVER

KW - DESERTION

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Infestation of small seabirds by Ornithodoros maritimus ticks: Effects on chick body condition, reproduction and associated infectious agents

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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