Work

Leveraging location intelligence and individual-based modeling to simulate Rhipicephalus microplus infestation and eradication dynamics at the cattle-wildlife interface

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Cattle fever ticks (CFT), Rhipicephalus ( Boophilus ) annulatus and R . ( B .) microplus , threaten the economic security of the USA cattle industry as vectors of Babesia bigemina and B. bovis . Of the two CFT, R . microplus has a more invasive biology and thrives in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. The U.S. Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program successfully eliminated CFT from the southern USA and has since prevented CFT re-establishment by operating surveillance and quarantine in South Texas, including the permanent quarantine zone along the Texas-Mexico border. However, introductions and successful establishment of alternate CFT hosts, including white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) and nilgai ( Boselaphus tragocamelus ) in the Tamaulipan biome, have complicated eradication efforts. We used location intelligence and a spatially explicit, individual-based model to simulate potential impacts of wildlife hosts on R . microplus infestation/eradication dynamics in the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge that encompasses a brushland ecosystem with diverse coastal habitats, including parts of a lagoon in South Texas. Results of our hypothetical eradication scenarios suggest that even sparse populations of wildlife hosts can maintain R . microplus populations in habitat-specific refugia during eradication efforts. The present model version is the first to have incorporated a georeferenced representation of a real landscape and to have integrated site-specific field data on climatic conditions and cattle movement patterns. Model forecasts of spatially explicit chronologies of changes in R . microplus densities can aid in a priori evaluation of field sampling strategies and treatment applications in specific landscapes under specific environmental conditions.

Source: Current Research in Parasitology and Vector-Borne Diseases

DOI: 10.1016/j.crpvbd.2025.100323