Aims Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) pose a significant and increasing health threat globally. About 45 tick species have been described from Ghana, located in Sub-Saharan Africa, but it is unknown how well-informed local citizens are regarding the risks posed by ticks and TBDs. This research aimed to assess the public knowledge and awareness of TBPs and TBDs in Ghana through questionnaires. The survey underscored the potential veterinary and public health threats of TBDs, emphasizing the importance of awareness creation. Methods Utilizing a cross-sectional design, we collected data from 538 respondents across all 16 regions of Ghana through questionnaires and assessed public knowledge and awareness of TBDs. W used both an electronic survey form and a structured interview questionnaire to assess respondents’ knowledge of ticks and TBDs. Descriptive table statistics were used to tabulate frequencies and percentages of all categorical responses and more closely tested for associations between certain variable pairs. Results Results from the study identified limited public knowledge and awareness among animal owners and non-animal owners in Ghana. Furthermore, the results highlighted the association between domestic animal ownership and increased human-tick encounters. The findings suggest a pressing need for targeted public education on TBDs in Ghana. Conclusions As Ghana imports livestock, the risk of TBD spread demands attention. Overall, the survey contributes essential insights for veterinary and public health interventions, stressing the urgency of raising awareness and understanding among the public regarding the risks associated with ticks and TBDs. The cohabitation of humans with a variety of domestic animals, coupled with varying levels of veterinary service utilization, presents opportunities for targeted public health interventions.

Identifying hybridization between common pathogen vectors is essential due to the major public health implications through risks associated with hybrid’s enhanced pathogen transmission potential. These hard-ticks Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus are the two most common vectors of tick-borne pathogens that affect human and animal health in Europe. I. ricinus is a known native species in Finland with a well-known distribution. Over the past 60 years, I. persulcatus has expanded in range making the species appear in areas previously not found in Finland. Here we used double-digest restriction site-associated DNA (ddRAD) sequencing on 92 ticks (morphologically identified as 46 I. ricinus, and 46 I. persulcatus) collected across Finland to investigate whether RAD generated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) discriminate tick species and identify hybridization events. Two different clustering methods were used to infer the specific species based on how they clustered and identified hybrids among them. We were able to discriminate between the two tick species and identified five putative hybrids with admixed genomic proportions ranging from approximately 25 to 75 percent. Four of these hybrids were morphologically identified as I. ricinus and the other as I. persulcatus. Our results suggest that RAD SNPs are robust for identifying both species of the ticks as well as their hybrid individuals. These results suggest ongoing hybridization between I. ricinus and I. persulcatus in their natural populations in Finland. This study is a significant step in understanding the formation of hybridization zones due to range expansion potentially associated with climate change. Despite our findings, our data are insufficient for resolving the factors that affect population genetic structure within species.

Large areas of forests are annually damaged or destroyed by outbreaking insect pests. Understanding the factors that trigger and terminate such population eruptions has become crucially important, as plants, plant-feeding insects, and their natural enemies may respond differentially to the ongoing changes in the global climate. In northernmost Europe, climate-driven range expansions of the geometrid moths Epirrita autumnata and Operophtera brumata have resulted in overlapping and increasingly severe outbreaks. Delayed density-dependent responses of parasitoids are a plausible explanation for the ten-year population cycles of these moth species, but the impact of parasitoids on geometrid outbreak dynamics is unclear due to a lack of knowledge on the host ranges and prevalences of parasitoids attacking the moths in nature. To overcome these problems, we reviewed the literature on parasitism in the focal geometrid species in their outbreak range, and then constructed a DNA barcode reference library for all relevant parasitoid species based on reared specimens and sequences obtained from public databases. The combined parasitoid community of E. autumnata and O. brumata consists of 32 hymenopteran species, all of which can be reliably identified based on their barcode sequences. The curated barcode library presented here opens up new opportunities for estimating the abundance and community composition of parasitoids across populations and ecosystems based on mass barcoding and metabarcoding approaches. Such information can be used for elucidating the role of parasitoids in moth population control, possibly also for devising methods for reducing the extent, intensity, and duration of outbreaks.