Table 1.
Identification of host origin of the blood meal remnants in nymphs of Ixodes ricinus collected from forest parks and rural forests
| Host species | Number of I. ricinus nymphs with the host DNA (n/%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest parks | Rural forests | |||
| Osow (I) (105) n/% | Szczecin Landscape Park (II) (161) n/% | Zielonczyn (III) (104) n/% | Pobierowo (IV) (183) n/% | |
| Large mammals | ||||
| Cervus elaphus (red deer) | 10/9.5 | 51/31.7 | 19/18.3 | 33/18.0 |
| Capreolus capreolus (roe deer) | 20/19.0 | 29/18.0 | 20/19.2 | 36/19.7 |
| Dama dama (fallow deer) | – | 4/2.5 | – | 3/1.6 |
| Sus scrofa (wild boar) | 33/31.5 | 8/5.0 | 18/17.3 | 32/17.5 |
| Total | 63/60.0 | 92/57.2 | 57/54.8 | 104/56.8 |
| Medium and small mammals | ||||
| Vulpes vulpes (red fox) | – | – | 15/14.4 | 37/20.2 |
| Meles meles (European badger) | 5/4.8 | – | 2/1.9 | – |
| Castor fiber (European beaver) | – | – | 1/1.0 | – |
| Lepus europaeus (European hare) | – | 7/4.4 | – | – |
| Oryctolagus cuniculus (European rabbit) | – | 5/3.1 | 4/3.9 | – |
| Myodes glareolus (bank wole) | – | – | 10/9.6 | 17/9.3 |
| Total | 5/4.8 | 12/7.5 | 32/30.8 | 54/29.5 |
| Birds | ||||
| Accipiter gentilis (northern goshawk) | 1/1.0 | 2/1.2 | – | – |
| Ciconia nigra (black stork) | – | – | 1/1.0 | – |
| Perdix perdix (grey partridge) | 15/14.3 | 13/8.1 | – | – |
| Turdus philomelos (song thrush) | 8/7.6 | 15/9.3 | 2/1.9 | 2/1.1 |
| Turdus merula (common blackbird) | 13/12.3 | 24/14.9 | 4/3.9 | 8/4.4 |
| Upupa epops (hoopoe) | – | 1/0.6 | – | – |
| Total | 37/35.2 | 55/34.1 | 7/6.8 | 10/5.5 |
| Reptilians | ||||
| Lacerta viridis (green lizard) | – | – | 7/6.6 | 15/8.2 |
| Zootoca vivipara (viviparous lizard) | – | 2/1.2 | – | – |
| Natrix natrix (grass snake) | – | – | 1/1.0 | – |
| Total | – | 2/1.2 | 8/7.6 | 15/8.2 |
| Host DNA not detected | 56 | 93 | 47 | 131 |
| Number of tested nymphs | 161 | 254 | 151 | 314 |