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A simulation tool for tick abundance in agricultural landscapes with hedgerows
PRESS RELEASE - Until now, tick abundance maps were not designed to take fine-scale landscape features into account. Scientists from INRAE and CNRS have developed a simulation tool that estimates the abundance of the Ixodes ricinus tick in forests, forest edges and hedgerows. The findings were published in Basic and Applied Ecology.
Published on 03 September 2026 (date.last_update 03 September 2026)
Tick-borne diseases pose a major threat to human and animal health in Europe. The abundance of the primary vector, the Ixodes ricinus tick, varies greatly across landscapes due to variations in host density and climatic conditions at a very fine scale. Although this tick’s preferred habitat is forested areas, it can also be found at the edges of forests or in hedgerows. But the probability of presence maps developed to date do not account for these fine-scale landscape features.
To address this gap, scientists from INRAE and CNRS developed a simulation tool for estimating the abundance of Ixodes ricinus adapted for hedgerow landscapes. They first collected ticks over a three-year period in two research areas (known as “zones atéliers” in French): one in Brittany (at the “Amorique” site) and one in southwestern France (at the “Pyrénées-Garonne” site). With almost 12,000 nymphs collected over three consecutive years during their peak activity periods in the spring, the research team was able to identify among the landscape variables (such as perimeters and distances from forests, hedgerows, meadows, roads, buildings, etc.) as well as meteorological variables (such as temperature and humidity) the ones that are the most relevant to explain tick density variations in the landscape. The statistical model based on these observed data was then used to predict the relative abundance of ticks at any point in the landscape.
The model adapted for forests shows that tick abundance increases with forest perimeter area and distance from roads. In the model adapted for forest edges and hedgerows, abundance also increases with forest perimeter area and decreases with the number of buildings and distance from the forest.
The simulator is the first open-source prototype that uses a file describing habitats to calculate and visualize areas at risk for tick-borne disease transmission in agricultural landscapes with hedgerows and under the climatic conditions of mainland France. This tool could also be used to anticipate the potential effects of land-use planning and management projects on tick abundance.
This research is part of the OSCAR project, funded through the French National Research Agency’s Agrobiosphere programme. This programme explored the consequences of land-use changes at the landscape scale on acarological risk (density of infected ticks).
Reference
Vourc’h G., Abrial D., Agoulon A. et al. (2026). Map simulator of tick abundance in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes. Basic and Applied Ecology, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2026.06.004
- These areas are part of the French “Réseau des Zones Ateliers”, or network of long-term socioecological research areas.