Does type of habitat affect tick-burden in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) neonates?

Sammanfattning:

This study was investigating the relationships between: 1) habitat type and tick abundance, 2) habitat type and tick load on fawns, and 3) tick load and fawn survival. During two years and in two study areas, 105 fawns (57 fawns in Bogesund and 48 fawns in Grimsö) have been captured by hand and equipped with a radio-transmitter. The fawns’ positions have then been triangulated almost every day until they died or had at least 30 positions. The surviving fawns were recaptured when they were estimated to have a weight of 3.6 kg. Ticks were collected from the fawns during both the capture and the recapture. By using the flagging-method, in which a white sheet is dragged along the ground, ticks were also collected from the vegetation. A vegetation map was used to determine the habitat on transects and the home range of the fawns. The study areas showed different results regarding in which habitat the ticks were found. At Grimsö ticks seems to favor deciduous forest and mixed forest not on mires. At Bogesund the favored tick habitat was instead coniferous forest with trees between five to fifteen meters. In Bogesund there was a positive correlation between tick-burden and percent of coniferous forest on lichen-dominated areas that covered fawn home ranges. No relationship could be found between ticks and the survival of the fawns. A positive correlation between surviving days and tick load during first capture could instead be found on fawns that died within 30 days.