Ticks, Cattle, and Wildlife: The Effects of Acaricides
Josephine Walker, an undergraduate at Princeton University in the U.S., will be conducting her senior thesis research at Loisaba and surrounding ranches this summer. She will use the data she collects on tick-borne diseases to develop a mathematical model that investigates whether dipping frequency, and therefore environmental tick density, could affect the endemic stability of these diseases in wildlife populations. In order to investigate this, she is collecting ticks from the ground and looking for wildlife presence in areas where cattle are grazing on ranches in Laikipia including Mpala and Loisaba.
Mpala and Loisaba dip at very different frequencies: at Mpala the strategy is to dip every week in order to prevent the exposure of the animals to tick-borne diseases and keep the tick burden low, while at Loisaba they dip half as often, potentially allowing young cattle to be exposed to tick-borne diseases and build up immunity. Her research will provide valuable information for cattle ranchers that wish to balance the raising of livestock with the conservation of wildlife.