Seasonal and among-site variation in the occurrence and abundance of fleas on

California ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi)

Introduction:
Fleas, also known as known as Siphonaptera is an external parasite that
feeds off the hosts blood they also can mate and spread rapidly depending on the
environment and species. Certain fleas have been plaguing the California area for
some time now. Scientists want to figure out why this is, and how we can prevent
the spreading of fleas by the means of testing different areas to see how squirrels
are affected by the parasites in three different types of land: agricultural defined as
land used for growing purposes and have been treated with pesticides and
herbicides in the last 10 years, pasteurized by means of cows or other animals
feeding on the land with no use of pesticides or herbicides in the past 10 years, and
lastly preserved land, land which has been untouched by cattle or pesticides or
herbicides in the last 10 years as defined by the experiment. The reason why these
questions need to be answered is because of the growing rate in which Californians
are becoming more infected with fleas and other parasites. Figuring out which
seasons the fleas thrive in and why they choose certain hosts gives scientists a
better understanding on when they should prepare for fleas more so. The scientists
hypothesis they are presenting is what the different patterns of flea levels on
squirrels in the different areas during different types of conditions and with different
types of squirrels.
Materials and method:
The researchers first started with figuring out where to look for the squirrels.
They chose three different sites: agricultural, pastures, and preserved areas.

keeping in mind, geographic conditions, elevation, and made sure to keep them
within 40km of each other to make sure the results stayed within the same
conditions to limit possible external factors for which they arent testing. After they
set their locations, they wanted to make sure they got squirrels from all 4 seasons
to keep in line with the hypothesis. During each season period, researchers would
go out and hunt 15 squirrels, shooting them so that the scientists wouldnt
accidently capture any other wildlife creature in the process. Once captured, they
were put in a bag and then put in a freezer to be later dissected. Once dissected,
researchers would put the squirrels into different categories like: sex, number of
fleas (large amount or small amount), age and location so they could plot and
analyze the data once they have had enough squirrels collected.
Results:
The results the researchers compiled were that they found about 805 fleas,
belonging to mostly 3 different types of fleas Hoplopsyllus anomalus ( Russian
rodent

flea),

Oropsylla

montana

(ground

squirrel

flea),

and

Echidnophaga

gallinacean (a stick-tight flea). We used generalized linear models to relate flea

abundance to host characteristics and environmental conditions. Abundance
estimates of all flea species combined and of individual flea species (Hubbart
2010) The data taken about each flea was that 2 out of 3 fleas (Hoplopsyllus
anomalus and Oropsylla montana) liked the spring and summer months and
Echidnophaga gallinacean liked fall months. The two fleas liked spring and summer
because they had a higher chance at living vs during the fall and winter months.
The Echidnophaga gallinacean flea had the opposite problem, thriving in the fall
months and having lower numbers during the spring and summer months. Doing
further research the scientists figured out that the Echidnophaga gallinacean flea

correlated with known data about the fleas natural habitat conditions and coincided
with the data found during the experiment. The collected data also gave information
about how pesticides affected the fleas and caused slighter numbers in the
agricultural areas vs the other two areas. The squirrels themselves gave a little
information about host selection. The fleas werent picky on what sex they chose
but scientists did find that Echidnophaga gallinacea was encountered less
frequently. Unlike H. anomalus and O. montana that primarily parasitize rodents
(Lewis 1972), E. gallinacea parasitizes birds and several mammals (Durden et al.
2005). Thus, although E. gallinacea will parasitize O. beecheyi, this rodent is not
considered its primary host (Hubbart 2010) and during the early part of spring
the H. anomalus was found in higher numbers on younger squirrels compared to the
other two flea types.
The discussion:
The results help the researchers gain information about the patterns in which
fleas like to reside. The data gained also helps support the researches main
hypothesis by giving the researchers positive data to analyze about the different
species, habitats, and conditions the fleas thrive off of. The drawbacks of the
experiment are the size of the experiment and the number of squirrels surveyed.
The amount of area the experiment was taken isnt justifiably large enough to give a
fool-proof answer to the hypothesis but does lay down a fantastic foundation for
more research to be conducted. The species and the number of squirrels could also
affect the outcome of the data taken, since the information is from a small pool of
samples, the data could also be out of line. If the experiments also included other
species like birds and other rodents favored by the fleas, the number of fleas could
either go up or down giving a better approximation on how bad the fleas are

affecting each group which could lead to a better understanding of the flea
epidemic allowing better protection and prevention in the future.
Citation
Hubbart, J. A., Jackowski, D. S., & Eads, D. A. (2011, January). Seasonal and amongsite variation in the occurrence and abundance of fleas on California ground
squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi). Retrieved March 9, 2016.
NBN Gateway. (n.d.). Retrieved April 06, 2016, from https://data.nbn.org.uk/