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Parasite load and seasonal migration in red deer

Oecologia volume 180, pages 401–407 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Northern deer populations are typically partially migratory, but the relationship between migratory movements and parasites has received little attention. Migration often involves movement from a low-elevation winter range towards a summer range at higher elevation. In Europe these movements may also involve a gradient in abundance of Ixodes ricinus ticks, but whether tick loads on deer differ depending on migration tactic has not been quantified. Based on the examination of ears from 49 red deer (Cervus elaphus) marked with global positioning system collars, we provide the first evidence that the tick loads of deer covering longer distances between their winter and summer range, resulting in higher difference in elevation, are lower. Our study highlights that only the resident part of the red deer population will be available as year-round hosts to ticks, while a large part of the red deer population is unavailable to ticks for most of the tick questing season due to seasonal migration to higher elevation. Predicted changes in the migratory behaviour of ungulates could hence affect the proportion of the host population available to ticks in the future.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the hunters for help in sampling ears and other data on GPS-marked red deer which were harvested, and to Anders Herland for examining the ears for ticks. This study was funded by the Norwegian Research Council and the Norwegian Environment Agency (project TickDeer, 203786/E40).

Author contribution statement

A. M. designed the study. E. L. M. collected the data. A. M., L. Q. and H. V. analysed the data. A. M. wrote the manuscript; other authors provided editorial advice.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Biosciences, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, Blindern, P.O. Box 1066, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Atle Mysterud, Lars Qviller & Hildegunn Viljugrein

  2. The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, 6630, Tingvoll, Norway

    Erling L. Meisingset

  3. Norwegian Veterinary Institute, Sentrum, P.O. Box 750, 0106, Oslo, Norway

    Hildegunn Viljugrein

Authors
  1. Atle Mysterud
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  2. Lars Qviller
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  3. Erling L. Meisingset
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  4. Hildegunn Viljugrein
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Atle Mysterud.

Additional information

Communicated by Jean-Michel Gaillard.

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Mysterud, A., Qviller, L., Meisingset, E.L. et al. Parasite load and seasonal migration in red deer. Oecologia 180, 401–407 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3465-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3465-5

Keywords

  • Cervus elaphus
  • Elevation
  • Migration distance
  • Partial migration
  • Tick load