Abundance of Adult Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

• Published in: The Journal of parasitology 2012-08, Vol.98 (4), p.883-884
• Main Authors: Movila, A, Deriabina, T, Morozov, A, Sitnicova, N, Toderas, I, Uspenskaia, I, Alekhnovici, A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abundance; Acari; adults; Alces alces; Animals; Animals, Wild; Arachnida; Arachnids; Artiodactyla; Artiodactyla - parasitology; Biological and medical sciences; Carnivora; Carnivora - parasitology; Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; Contamination; Deer; Dermacentor - radiation effects; Dermacentor reticulatus; Disasters; Female; Female animals; Females; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; General aspects and techniques. Study of several systematic groups. Models; Infestation; Invertebrates; Ionizing radiation; Ixodes; Ixodes - radiation effects; Ixodes ricinus; Ixodidae; Ixodidae - radiation effects; Male; Male animals; Males; Mammals; nuclear power; Nuclear power plants; Nyctereutes procyonoides; Parasite hosts; Parasitism; Parasitology; Pathogens; power plants; Predation; Raccoon Dogs; Radiation; Radiation, Ionizing; Radioactive pollution; Republic of Belarus - epidemiology; RESEARCH NOTES; Reservoirs; Sex Ratio; Small mammals; spring; Sus scrofa; Tick Infestations - parasitology; Tick Infestations - veterinary; Ticks; Vectors; Vegetation
• ISSN: 0022-3395; 1937-2345
• DOI: 10.1645/GE-3131.1

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster resulted in contamination of vast areas in Europe. To date, there is little knowledge about the effects of radioactive contamination on tick species. We sampled ticks from vegetation and large-sized wild mammals belonging to orders Carnivora and Artiodactyla at sites with 0.76, 1.91, and 4.50 mSv/hr ionizing radiation background values in the Polesky State Radio-Ecological Reserve of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone in spring 2010. Altogether, 122 questing ticks were collected from vegetation. Among collected ticks, Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius) was, by far, the most abundant species (99.2%), followed by Ixodes ricnus (L.) (0.8%), which was collected only at the 0.76 mSv/hr site. The average sex ratio female∶male was 2.9∶1.0. In parallel with the present study, we examined 3 Sus scrofa (L.), 2 Nyctereutes procyonoides (Gray), and 1 Alces alces (L.) at the 4.50 mSv/hr site; 96 D. reticulatus ticks were found on 2 N. procyonoides specimens. The mean density and the intensity of infestation were 16 ticks per animal and 48 ticks per infested animal, respectively. Future investigations are warranted to further characterize the role of various tick vectors, vertebrate reservoirs, and diversity of tick-borne pathogens in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.