Improving Widescale Monitoring of Ectoparasite Presence in Northern Canadian Wildlife with the Aid of Citizen Science
Sampling hides from harvested animals is commonly used for passive monitoring of ectoparasites on wildlife hosts, but often relies heavily on community engagement to obtain spatially and temporally consistent samples. Surveillance of winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) on moose (Alces alces) and c...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13040380 |
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2075-4450/13/4/380/ 2023-08-20T03:59:23+02:00 Improving Widescale Monitoring of Ectoparasite Presence in Northern Canadian Wildlife with the Aid of Citizen Science Emily S. Chenery Maud Henaff Kristenn Magnusson N. Jane Harms Nicholas E. Mandrak Péter K. Molnár agris 2022-04-12 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13040380 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Role of Insects in Human Society https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13040380 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Insects; Volume 13; Issue 4; Pages: 380 parasite ticks Dermacentor albipictus winter tick wildlife health citizen science hunting sampling surveillance monitoring Text 2022 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13040380 2023-08-01T04:44:27Z Sampling hides from harvested animals is commonly used for passive monitoring of ectoparasites on wildlife hosts, but often relies heavily on community engagement to obtain spatially and temporally consistent samples. Surveillance of winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) on moose (Alces alces) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) hosts in Yukon, Canada, has relied in part on voluntary submission of hides by hunters since 2011, but few samples were submitted. To enhance sampling efforts on underrepresented moose and caribou hosts, we implemented a three-year citizen science program, the Yukon Winter Tick Monitoring Project (YWTMP), to better engage with hunters in hide sample collection. A combination of in-person and social media outreach, incentivized engagement, and standardized hide sampling kits increased voluntary submissions of moose and caribou hides almost 100-fold since surveillance began. Citizen science samples expanded the northernmost geographic extent of existing sampling efforts for moose by 480 km and for caribou by 650 km to reach 67.5° N latitude. Samples also resulted in new detections of winter ticks on moose hides that are spatially separate to those submitted for other cervids in Yukon. Findings from the YWTMP have provided an essential baseline to monitor future winter tick host–parasite dynamics in the region and highlighted priority areas for ongoing tick surveillance. Text Alces alces Rangifer tarandus Yukon MDPI Open Access Publishing Canada Yukon Insects 13 4 380 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
parasite ticks Dermacentor albipictus winter tick wildlife health citizen science hunting sampling surveillance monitoring |
spellingShingle |
parasite ticks Dermacentor albipictus winter tick wildlife health citizen science hunting sampling surveillance monitoring Emily S. Chenery Maud Henaff Kristenn Magnusson N. Jane Harms Nicholas E. Mandrak Péter K. Molnár Improving Widescale Monitoring of Ectoparasite Presence in Northern Canadian Wildlife with the Aid of Citizen Science |
topic_facet |
parasite ticks Dermacentor albipictus winter tick wildlife health citizen science hunting sampling surveillance monitoring |
description |
Sampling hides from harvested animals is commonly used for passive monitoring of ectoparasites on wildlife hosts, but often relies heavily on community engagement to obtain spatially and temporally consistent samples. Surveillance of winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) on moose (Alces alces) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) hosts in Yukon, Canada, has relied in part on voluntary submission of hides by hunters since 2011, but few samples were submitted. To enhance sampling efforts on underrepresented moose and caribou hosts, we implemented a three-year citizen science program, the Yukon Winter Tick Monitoring Project (YWTMP), to better engage with hunters in hide sample collection. A combination of in-person and social media outreach, incentivized engagement, and standardized hide sampling kits increased voluntary submissions of moose and caribou hides almost 100-fold since surveillance began. Citizen science samples expanded the northernmost geographic extent of existing sampling efforts for moose by 480 km and for caribou by 650 km to reach 67.5° N latitude. Samples also resulted in new detections of winter ticks on moose hides that are spatially separate to those submitted for other cervids in Yukon. Findings from the YWTMP have provided an essential baseline to monitor future winter tick host–parasite dynamics in the region and highlighted priority areas for ongoing tick surveillance. |
format |
Text |
author |
Emily S. Chenery Maud Henaff Kristenn Magnusson N. Jane Harms Nicholas E. Mandrak Péter K. Molnár |
author_facet |
Emily S. Chenery Maud Henaff Kristenn Magnusson N. Jane Harms Nicholas E. Mandrak Péter K. Molnár |
author_sort |
Emily S. Chenery |
title |
Improving Widescale Monitoring of Ectoparasite Presence in Northern Canadian Wildlife with the Aid of Citizen Science |
title_short |
Improving Widescale Monitoring of Ectoparasite Presence in Northern Canadian Wildlife with the Aid of Citizen Science |
title_full |
Improving Widescale Monitoring of Ectoparasite Presence in Northern Canadian Wildlife with the Aid of Citizen Science |
title_fullStr |
Improving Widescale Monitoring of Ectoparasite Presence in Northern Canadian Wildlife with the Aid of Citizen Science |
title_full_unstemmed |
Improving Widescale Monitoring of Ectoparasite Presence in Northern Canadian Wildlife with the Aid of Citizen Science |
title_sort |
improving widescale monitoring of ectoparasite presence in northern canadian wildlife with the aid of citizen science |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13040380 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Canada Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Canada Yukon |
genre |
Alces alces Rangifer tarandus Yukon |
genre_facet |
Alces alces Rangifer tarandus Yukon |
op_source |
Insects; Volume 13; Issue 4; Pages: 380 |
op_relation |
Role of Insects in Human Society https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13040380 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13040380 |
container_title |
Insects |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
380 |
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1774712650781949952 |