Ecology 2004

• Main Authors: British Ecological Society, Blackwell Oxford, Jae Journal, M. K. Laurenson, R. A. Norman, L. Gilbert, H. W. Reid, P. J. Hudson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: Hudson; mountain hare
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.61.5545; http://www.personal.psu.edu/pjh18/downloads/158_Laurenson_et_al_2004_Hares_and_complex_data_J_Anim_Ecol.pdf

Introduction Our recent paper examined the impact of a large-scale field manipulation of mountain hare density on the dynamics of ticks, louping-ill and red grouse (Laurenson et al. 2003). We found that hares were an important host for ticks and for the transmission of louping-ill, and that tick burdens and louping-ill seroprevalence in grouse declined when hare densities were reduced, in comparison to a control. In addition, the number of young grouse produced per adult bird increased, but no effect on grouse density was found. Our model of the system showed that the dynamical decline in louping-ill can be accounted for through the decline of both ticks and the process of non-viraemic transmission. Cope, Iason & Gordon (2004) maketwo broad sets of observations on this study. First, they commenton the limitations of the controls. Secondly, they make minor modifications to an existing model of nematode-driven grouse cycles, replicating previously published research (Hudson et al. 2002)