Modeling the Distribution of Dominant Hard Ticks in Southeastern Coastal Areas of the Caspian Sea.

Background: Ticks are hematophagous arthropods that have direct and indirect effects on hosts, including the transmission of pathogens. An environmental suitability study of some vector species of hard ticks was conducted using the MaxEnt model in the south-eastern region of the Caspian Sea in Iran.

Methods: The ticks were collected monthly (2014-2015) at 45 study sites covering different areas in terms of topography. Because most farms in the study area are traditionally engaged in sheep production and they are taken to pastures in the warm season, the ticks were sampled from herds of sheep.

Results: In total, 2410 hard ticks were collected and the vector species with wider distributions were considered for modelling. The areas under the curve for Hyalomma anatulicum, Hy. asiaticum, Hy. marginatum, Rhipicephalus bursa, Rh. sanguineus, and Rh. turanicus were 0.848, 0.762, 0.812, 0.772, 0.770 and 0.803, respectively. This means that temperature and precipitation were effective environmental variables for the prediction of appropriate regions for these tick species. The outputs of the models indicated that the western and south- western regions of Golestan Province provided the best niches for the presence of ticks.

Conclusion: The western regions of Golestan Province are potential habitats for tick-borne diseases in both livestock and humans and special attention should be focused on preventing the spread of such diseases in this region.