{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,5]],"date-time":"2026-05-05T20:44:35Z","timestamp":1778013875940,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":67,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,27]],"date-time":"2025-08-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756252800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010269","name":"Wellcome Trust","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["H5483700"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["H5483700"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010269","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000839","name":"University of Reading","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000839","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Medical Vet Entomology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    Climate change is expected to expand the geographic ranges of ectoparasites, increasing the transmission of vector\u2010borne diseases and necessitating a better understanding of ectoparasite\u2013host trophic dynamics. Haematophagous ectoparasites can serve as valuable subsamples of their hosts, retaining isotopic values that reflect dietary information in both their blood meals and tissues. However, differences in the life histories and feeding strategies of lice, fleas and ticks may influence how host isotopic composition is preserved. Here, stable isotope values of carbon (\n                    <jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic>\n                    <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>\n                    C) and nitrogen (\n                    <jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic>\n                    <jats:sup>15<\/jats:sup>\n                    N) were used to investigate trophic interactions between ectoparasites and their mammalian hosts in three pairings: lice (Anoplura: Polyplacidae;\n                    <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009=\u2009101) from Eurasian red squirrels\n                    <jats:italic>Sciurus vulgaris<\/jats:italic>\n                    L. (Rodentia: Sciuridae), fleas (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae;\n                    <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009=\u200992) from fat dormice\n                    <jats:italic>Glis glis<\/jats:italic>\n                    L. (Rodentia: Gliridae) and ticks (Ixodida: Ixodidae;\n                    <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009=\u200916) from European hedgehogs\n                    <jats:italic>Erinaceus europaeus<\/jats:italic>\n                    L. (Eulipotyphla: Erinaceidae). Our findings indicate that ectoparasites reflect the dietary patterns of their hosts, with lice exhibiting the closest isotopic values, followed by fleas and ticks. All parasites had significantly higher\n                    <jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic>\n                    <jats:sup>15<\/jats:sup>\n                    N values than their hosts, indicative of trophic enrichment, but their\n                    <jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic>\n                    <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>\n                    C values varied. Notably, we found that the presence of a blood meal did not significantly affect the isotopic values found in lice and fleas, while ticks showed a significant difference between exoskeleton and blood meal in\n                    <jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic>\n                    <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>\n                    C values. This study highlights the importance of understanding how the life histories of parasite species influence the preservation of isotopic host signals in order to be able to utilise stable isotope analyses of ectoparasites to infer host dietary niches and preferences, with broader implications for understanding host\u2013parasite dynamics and disease transmission pathways.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/mve.70008","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,27]],"date-time":"2025-08-27T12:13:52Z","timestamp":1756296832000},"page":"664-674","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Stable isotope analysis of ectoparasites as a tool for understanding trophic interactions with mammalian hosts"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"39","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-8212-1933","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gaia G.","family":"Mortier","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography and Environmental Science University of Reading  Reading UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Stuart","family":"Black","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography and Environmental Science University of Reading  Reading UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2594-0827","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrew C.","family":"Kitchener","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Museums Scotland  Edinburgh UK"},{"name":"School of Geosciences  Edinburgh UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Georg","family":"Hantke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Museums Scotland  Edinburgh UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Luke A.","family":"Stevens","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Biological Sciences University of Reading  Reading UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lea J.","family":"Grayston\u2010Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Biological Sciences University of Reading  Reading UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Phillip J.","family":"Baker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Biological Sciences University of Reading  Reading UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"M. 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