Consequences of landscape fragmentation on Lyme disease risk: a cellular automata approach.

ABSTRACT: The abundance of infected Ixodid ticks is an important component of human risk of Lyme disease, and various empirical studies have shown that this is associated, at least in part, to landscape fragmentation. In this study, we aimed at exploring how varying woodland fragmentation patterns affect the risk of Lyme disease, through infected tick abundance. A cellular automata model was developed, incorporating a heterogeneous landscape with three interactive components: an age-structured tick population, a classical disease transmission function, and hosts. A set of simplifying assumptions were adopted with respect to the study objective and field data limitations. In the model, the landscape influences both tick survival and host movement. The validation of the model was performed with an emp

SUBMITTER: Li S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3382467 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature