Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-22T04:17:27.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Landscape features associated with infection by a malaria parasite (Plasmodium mexicanum) and the importance of multiple scale studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2001

R. J. EISEN  and
N. M. WRIGHT
R. J. EISEN
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA
N. M. WRIGHT
Affiliation:
University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center, Hopland, California 95449, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In a 3-year study, we examined landscape features (aspect, slope, sun exposure, canopy cover, type of ground cover, and nearest water source) that were potentially related to prevalence of infection with Plasmodium mexicanum in fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) within a 4.5 ha study area in northern California, USA. Logistic regression analysis showed that ground cover type was the primary mediator of the probability of P. mexicanum infection. Infected lizards were captured more often in rock and/or leaf litter locations than in grassy ones. In another experiment, the study area was divided into 9 sites (0.07–0.33 ha), and infection prevalence was calculated for each. Three sites with high (>30%) infection prevalence had significantly more rocky outcrops and leaf litter than those with low (<20%) or moderate (20–30%) infection prevalence (N = 3 sites each). We conclude that lizard site selection may influence the probability of exposure to infected vectors and thus the likelihood of P. mexicanum infection. We also demonstrate that studies at different spatial scales may be required to understand fully the relationship between landscape features and parasite distribution.

Keywords

Plasmodiummalarialandscape featuresspatial scale
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 122 , Issue 5 , May 2001 , pp. 507 - 513
Copyright
2001 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AARON, J. L. & MAY, R. M. (1982). The population dynamics of malaria. In Population Dynamics of Infectious Diseases (ed. ANDERSON, R. M.), pp. 139–179. Chapman and Hall, London.CrossRef
ANDERSON, R. M. & MAY, R. M. (1992). Infectious Diseases of Humans. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
AUDREY, J. R. (1958). The localization of disease with special reference to the zoonoses. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 52, 308–334.Google Scholar
AYALA, S. C. (1970). Lizard malaria in California; description of a strain of Plasmodium mexicanum, and biogeography of lizard malaria in North America. Journal of Parasitology 56, 417–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
AYALA, S. C. (1977). Plasmodium of reptiles. In Parasitic Protozoa, Vol. 3, (ed. KREIER, J. P.), pp. 267–309. Academic Press, New York.
BARBOUR, A. D. (1978). MacDonald's model and the transmission of bilharzia. Transactions of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 72, 6–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BECK, L. R., RODRIGUEZ, M. H., DISTER, S. W., RODRIGUEZ, A. D., REJMANKOVA, E., ULLOA, A., MEZA, R. A., ROBERTS, D. R., PARIS, J. F., SPANNER, M. A., WASHINO, R. K., HACKER, C. & LEGTERS, L. J. (1994). Remote sensing as a landscape epidemiologic tool to identify villages at risk for malaria transmission. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 51, 271–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BLOCK, W. M. & MORRISON, M. L. (1998). Habitat relationships of amphibians and reptiles in California oak woodlands. Journal of Herpetology 32, 41–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BROMWICH, C. R. & SCHALL, J. J. (1986). Infection dynamics of Plasmodium mexicanum. A malaria parasite of lizards. Ecology 67, 1227–1235.Google Scholar
CHANTIOTIS, B. N. & ANDERSON, J. R. (1968). Age structure, population dynamics and vector potential of Phlebotomus in northern California Part II. Field population dynamics and natural flagellate infections in parous females. Journal of Medical Entomology 5, 273–292.Google Scholar
DAVIS, J. & FORD, R. G. (1983). Home range in the western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis). Copeia 1983, 933–940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DAVIS, J. & VERBEEK, N. A. M. (1972). Habitat preferences and the distribution of Uta stansburiana and Sceloporus occidentalis in coastal California. Copeia 1972, 643–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DISTER, S. W., FISH, D., BROS, S. M., FRANK, D. H. & WOOD, B. L. (1997). Landscape characterization of peridomestic risk for Lyme disease using satellite imagery. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 57, 687–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DYE, C. M. & HASIBEDER, G. (1986). Population dynamics of mosquito-borne disease: effects of flies which bite some people more frequently than others. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 83, 69–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EISEN, R. J. (2000). Variation in life-history traits of Plasmodium mexicanum, a malaria parasite infecting western fence lizards: a longitudinal study. Canadian Journal of Zoology 78, 1230–1237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ESCH, G. W. & FERNANDEZ, J. C. (1993). A Functional Biology of Parasitism. Chapman and Hall, London.CrossRef
FIALHO, R. H. & SCHALL, J. J. (1995). Thermal ecology of a malarial parasite and its insect vector: consequences for the parasite's transmission success. Journal of Animal Ecology 64, 553–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FRANK, D., FISH, D. & MOY, F. H. (1998). Landscape features associated with Lyme disease risk in a suburban residential environment. Landscape Ecology 13, 27–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GARNHAM, P. C. C. (1966). Malaria Parasites and other Haemosporidia. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.
GRENFELL, B. T. & DOBSON, A. P. (1995). Ecology of Infectious Diseases in Natural Populations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRef
HOSMER, D. W. & LEMESHOW, S. (1989). Applied Logistic Regression. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
JOKELA, J. & LIVELY, C. M. (1995). Spatial variation in infection by digenetic trematodes in a population of freshwater snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). Oecologia 103, 509–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KITRON, U. (1998). Landscape ecology and epidemiology of vector-borne diseases: tools for spatial analysis. Journal of Medical Entomology 35, 435–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KITRON, U., OTIENO, L. H., HUNGERFORD, L. L., ODULAJA, A., BRINGHAM, W. U., OKELLO, O. O., JOSELYN, M., MOHAMED-AHMED, M. M. & COOK, E. (1996). Spatial analysis of the distribution of tsetse flies in the Lambwe Valley, Kenya, using Landsat TM satellite imagery and GIS. Journal of Animal Ecology 65, 371–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MACDONALD, G. (1957). The Epidemiology and Control of Malaria. Oxford University Press, London.
MACLEOD, J. (1935). Ixodes ricinus in relation to its physical environment. II. Factors governing survival and activity. Parasitology 27, 123–144.Google Scholar
PAVLOVSKY, E. N. (1966). Natural Nidality of Transmissible Diseases. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL, USA.CrossRef
PERKINS, S. L., OSGOOD, S. M. & SCHALL, J. J. (1998). Use of PCR for detection of subpatent infections of lizard malaria: implications for epizootiology. Molecular Ecology 7, 1587–1590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROSE, B. R. (1976). Habitat and prey selection of Sceloporus occidentalis and Sceloporus graciosus. Ecology 57, 531–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAPP, K. K. & ESCH, G. W. (1994). The effects of spatial and temporal heterogeneity as structuring forces for parasite communities in Helisoma anceps and Physa gyrina. American Midland Naturalist 132, 91–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHALL, J. J. & MARGHOOB, A. B. (1995). Prevalence of a malaria parasite over time and space: Plasmodium mexicanum in its vertebrate host, the western fence lizard Sceloporus occidentalis. Journal of Animal Ecology 64, 177–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHALL, J. J. (1996). Malaria parasites of lizards: diversity and ecology. Advances in Parasitology 37, 255–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHMIDT, G. D. & ROBERTS, L. S. (1989). Foundations of Parasitology, 4th Edn. Times Mirror/Mosby College Publishing Company, St Louis, MO, USA.
SOUSA, W. P. & GROSHOLZ, E. D. (1991). The influence of habitat structure on the transmission of parasites. In Habitat Structure: The Physical Arrangements of Objects in Space (ed. BELL, S. S. MCCOY, E. D. & MUSHINSKY, H. R.), pp. 300–324. Chapman and Hall, London.CrossRef
TÄLLEKLINT-EISEN, L. & EISEN, R. J. (1999). Abundance of ticks (acari: Ixodidae) infesting the western fence lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis, in relation to environmental factors. Experimental and Applied Acarology 23, 731–740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TELFORD, S. R. (1994). Plasmodia of reptiles. In Parasitic Protozoa, vol. 7. (ed. KREIER, J. P.), pp. 1–71. San Diego Academic Press, San Diego, CA, USA.
THOMSON, M. C., CONNOR, S. J., D'ALESSANDRO, U., ROWLINGSON, B., DIGGLE, P., CRESSWELL, M. & GREENWOOD, B. (1999). Predicting malaria infection in Gambian children from satellite data and bed net use surveys: the importance of spatial correlation in the interpretation of results. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 61, 2–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VAN RIPER, C., III VAN RIPER, S. G., GOFF, M. L. & LAIRD, M. (1986). The epizootiology and ecological significance of malaria in Hawaiian land birds. Ecological Monographs 56, 327–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ZELMER, D. A., WETZEL, E. J. & ESCH, G. W. (1999). The role of habitat in structuring Halipegus occidualis metapopulations in the green frog. Journal of Parasitology 85, 19–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar