Ecology of Lyme 2
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WHAT IS IT?
The ecology of Lyme disease is complex. This model looks at a small piece of this system: That of whether or not a non-carrier larval tick will become a carrier as a result of taking a blood meal from its first host.
The dilution effect is the idea that biodiversity decreases the risk to humans of contracting Lyme disease. Lyme is caused by the pathogenic bacterium Borellia burgdorferi. The pathogen is transmitted from host to host by the black-legged tick (genus Ixodes). Black legged ticks take a number of blood meals during their life cycle. Larval ticks are not carriers when they emerge from their eggs. Whether they become carriers as nymphs depends on the competency of their first host in transmitting the bacterium and the survival rate of the larval ticks.
There are two types of agents in this model: Black-legged ticksand a variety of host species.
- Black legged ticks are the disease vectors and take a blood meal from a warm-blooded host. The host can be a competent host or a dilution host.
- Host Species Densities Some hosts are natural reservoirs for B. burgdorferi. These competent hosts readily transmit the pathogen to ticks and ticks have a high survival rate on these hosts. Othe hosts are dilution hosts. Dilution hosts have a lower probabilty of transmitting B. burgdorferi and often kill many larval ticks through their grooming behavior.
HOW IT WORKS
The model setup randomly distributes the agents described above within the world. The larval ticks remain stationary, questing for a blood meal. The host species move randomly through the world at different rates relative to their size.
At each tick:
- If a tick and one or more hosts are on the same patch and the tick has not fed, the tick will take a blood meal from a randomly selected host on the same patch.
- The probability that the tick feeds, survives and becomes infected is determined by the species specific body burden, probability of molting, and reservoir competence. The parameters used for these probabilities are taken from reference 5.
- If the tick survives it molts into the nymph stage (becomes larger).
- If the tick becomes infected it changes color from black to red.
- If a larva does not attempt feeding it remains small.
The simulation ends after 1000 ticks
HOW TO USE IT
Input parameters:
- numLarvalTicks: Sets the number of larval ticks in the world
- num{Hosts}: Sets the number of each species of hosts in the world
Outputs:
- A graph of infected nymphs, uninfected nymphs, and total of all nymphs over time
- The total number of surviving nymphs (D)N)
- The total number of surviving nymphs that are infected (DIN)
- The percentage of surviving nymphs that are infected (DIN)
THINGS TO TRY
Change the number of each species in various combinations to investigate their effect on DON, DIN, and NIP. Eliminate species by setting their density to zero. Double or halve the densities. Run the predefined Behavior Space experiments (from the Tools menu) to replicate the work in reference 5. Load the output into a spreadsheet and analyze the data. Create your own Behavior Space experiments of othe species combinations.
EXTENDING THE MODEL
Add chooser and input for time for ending model at some time t or until all fed Add acorns to simulate masting events Add environmental patch sizes to simulate the effect of habitat fragmentation on differential species survival Add deer that deposit adults that lay eggs Add the full life cycle of ticks from egg to larva to nymph to adult
CREDITS AND REFERENCES
- Allan B.F., Keesing F., and Ostfeld R. S. 2003 Effect of forest fragmentation on Lyme Disease Risk. Conservation Biology 17:267–272. CDC. 2015. Lyme Disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4 March 2015. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/ on July 7, 2015.
- Keesing, F., J. Brunner, S. Duerr, M. Killilea, K. LoGiudice, K. Schmidt, H. Vuong, and R.S. Ostfeld. 2009. Hosts as ecological traps for the vector of Lyme disease. Proc R Soc B 276, 3911–3919.
- Kremen C. and R.S. Ostfeld. 2005. A call to ecologists: measuring, analyzing, and managing ecosystem services. Front Ecol Environ 3 (10), 540–548.
- Krohne, D.T. and G.A. Hoch. 1999. Demography of Peromyscus leucopus populations on habitat patches: the role of dispersal. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 77: 1247–1253.
- LoGiudice, K., R.S. Ostfeld, K.A. Schmidt, and F. Keesing. 2003. The ecology of infectious disease: effects of host diversity and community composition on Lyme disease risk. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 100, 567–571.
Comments and Questions
;;----- Breed types breed [blticks bltick] breed [mice mouse] breed [chipmunks chipmunk] breed [deers deer] breed [racoons racoon] breed [possums possum] breed [skunks skunk] breed [st-shrews st-shrew] breed [birds bird] breed [sx-shrews sx-shrew] breed [squirrels squirrel] ;;----- Breed properties blticks-own [infected? molt?] ;; larval ticks molt once and may become carriers of Lyme as a result mice-own [body-burden reservoir-competence molting-percentage] ;; each species can carry Lyme and have a probability of transmitting Lyme chipmunks-own [body-burden molting-percentage reservoir-competence] deers-own [body-burden molting-percentage reservoir-competence] racoons-own [body-burden molting-percentage reservoir-competence] possums-own [body-burden molting-percentage reservoir-competence] skunks-own [body-burden molting-percentage reservoir-competence] st-shrews-own [body-burden molting-percentage reservoir-competence] birds-own [body-burden molting-percentage reservoir-competence] sx-shrews-own [body-burden molting-percentage reservoir-competence] squirrels-own [body-burden molting-percentage reservoir-competence] to setup ca ;; color the patches ask patches [set pcolor 63] ;; intialize breeds and randomly distribute them in the world create-blticks larval-ticks [ set shape "spider" set color black set size 0.5 set infected? FALSE set molt? FALSE ] create-mice mouse-density [ set shape "mouse side" set color gray set size 2.5 set body-burden 28 set reservoir-competence 0.921 set molting-percentage 0.415 ] create-chipmunks chipmunk-density [ set shape "chipmunk" set color brown set size 2.5 set body-burden 36 set reservoir-competence 0.55 set molting-percentage 0.412 ] create-deers deer-density [ set shape "moose" set color brown + 2 set size 4 set body-burden 239 set reservoir-competence 0.046 set molting-percentage 0.563 ] create-racoons racoon-density [ set shape "racoon" set color brown set size 3 set body-burden 127 set reservoir-competence 0.013 set molting-percentage 0.365 ] create-possums possum-density [ set shape "possum" set color gray + 3 set size 3 set body-burden 254 set reservoir-competence 0.026 set molting-percentage 0.441 ] create-skunks skunk-density [ set shape "skunk" set color black set size 3 set body-burden 67 set reservoir-competence 0.097 set molting-percentage 0.639 ] create-st-shrews st-shrew-density [ set shape "mouse side" set color brown set size 1.5 set body-burden 63 set reservoir-competence 0.418 set molting-percentage 0.468 ] create-birds bird-density [ set shape "bird" set color blue + 1 set size 3 set body-burden 2 set reservoir-competence 0.117 set molting-percentage 0.339 ] create-sx-shrews sx-shrew-density [ set shape "mouse side" set color black set size 1.5 set body-burden 56 set reservoir-competence 0.512 set molting-percentage 0.496 ] create-squirrels squirrel-density [ set shape "squirrel" set color gray set size 3 set body-burden 142 set reservoir-competence 0.147 set molting-percentage 0.593 ] ask turtles [setxy random-xcor random-ycor] reset-ticks end to go ;; stop when all ticks have fed ;if all? blticks [ molt? ] [ stop ] if ticks = 1000 [stop] ;; have each breed move at a different speed move ;; ticks will feed on a host if one is on the same patch ask blticks [feed] tick end to move ;; all hosts move randomly around the world ask mice [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 1 [fd 0.1] ] ask chipmunks [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 3 [fd 0.1] ] ask deers [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 10 [fd 0.1] ] ask racoons [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 6 [fd 0.1] ] ask possums [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 6 [fd 0.1] ] ask skunks [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 6 [fd 0.1] ] ask st-shrews [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 1 [fd 0.1] ] ask birds [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 10 [fd 0.1] ] ask sx-shrews [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 1 [fd 0.1] ] ask squirrels [ left random 50 right random 50 repeat 6 [fd 0.1] ] end to feed ;; define local variables let pInfected 0 let pMolt 0 let burden 0 ;;find a host, exclude other ticks let host one-of other turtles-here with [member? self blticks = FALSE ] ;; set local variables to the host's properties ;; for each feeding event if larva has not already fed if host != nobody and not molt?[ ask host [ set pMolt molting-percentage set pInfected reservoir-competence set burden body-burden ] ;; ticks feed once, molt, and become larger ;; survival is determined based on the host quality ;; infection status is determined based on the host's reservoir competence if random 254 <= burden [ ;; is host below its body burden? ifelse random-float 1.0 <= pMolt ;; does larva survive to molt? [ set molt? TRUE ;; feed set size size * 2 ;; molt if random-float 1.0 <= pInfected ;; did B.burgdorferi transfer? [ set infected? TRUE ;; if so change infection status set color red ;; and color ] ] [ die ] ;; else larva dies ] ] end to-report DON report count blticks with [molt?] end to-report DIN report count blticks with [infected?] end to-report NIP report 100 * DIN / DON end to reset ;; resets model parameters to intial satate ;; multiply parameters from literature by 20 to normalize all as integers? HUGE numbers! set larval-ticks 1000 set mouse-density 40 set chipmunk-density 20 set deer-density 1 set racoon-density 1 set possum-density 1 set skunk-density 1 set st-shrew-density 25 set bird-density 32 set sx-shrew-density 25 set squirrel-density 8 end
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Ecology of Lyme 2.png | preview | Preview for 'Ecology of Lyme 2' | about 6 years ago, by Michael Zito | Download |
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Michael Zito
The parameters used in this model are from
https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/100/2/567.full.pdf
Posted about 6 years ago