Modeling the distribution of Hyaloma marginatum in Golestan province, North of Iran

عنوان دوره: دومین کنگره بین المللی حشره شناسی ایران
نویسندگان
چکیده
Introduction
Ticks are hematophagous arthropods that affect animals and human, and also have an impact on public health. These ectoparasites can cause direct or indirect damages and transmit a number of pathogens to human and animal. The aim of this study was to predict the best ecological niches for Hyaloma marginatum in Golestan Province.
Materials and methods
For this study ticks were collected monthly from October 2014 to December 2015 at 45 study sites. For this purpose, the province was divided into three regions according to the topography data. These three regions included hillside, plain and coastal areas. MaxEnt software version 3.3.3 was used to predict the appropriate ecological niches for H. marginatum. Random test percentage was 20%. The model runs 10 times for each species. Bioclimatic variables and altitude layers were obtained from the WorldClim-Global Climate database at the spatial resolution of 1km2 or 30 arc-s. Jackknife analysis in the MaxEnt software was used to evaluate the contribution of the environmental variables. Finally, to verify the obtained models AUC graph prepared and the results were evaluated.
Result
In this study 3904 sheep were examined and 1183 Hyaloma marginatum were collected. A total of 35 presence records were used for training and 4 for testing the model in 10 replicates. The average test AUC for the replicate runs is 0.812, and the standard deviation is 0.105. Based on the Jackknife analysis the environmental variable with highest gain when used in isolation is mean temperature of coldest quarter and the environmental variable that decreases the gain the most when it is omitted is max temperature of warmest month.
Discussion
Hyalomma marginatum is also known as the Mediterranean Hyalomma. It is one of the important Hyalomma species and is notorious as the vector of the virus causing Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. In present study east and southeast regions of the province as suitable habit of this tick forecasted was determined, it seems that these areas should always be monitored in term of tick borne disease.
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