The effect of severe drought on the abundance of ticks on vegetation and on scrub hares in the Kruger National Park

Abstract

Free-living ixodid ticks were collected monthly from the vegetation of landscape zones 17 (Sclerocarya caffra/Acacia nigrescens savanna) and 4 (thickets of the Sabie and Crocodile Rivers), and parasitic ticks from scrub hares Lepus saxatilis in the latter landscape zone. Total tick collections from the vegetation of both landscape zones were lowest in the year following the drought year itself. -Authors