Urban areas may support high densities of wild carnivores, and pathogens can strongly influence carnivore populations. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are hosts of sarcoptic mange (Sarcoptes scabiei), which infects numerous species, and transmission can be density dependent. In Great Britain, urban red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) have recently increased in population density and undergone range expansions. Here we investigate corresponding changes in urban fox mange prevalence. We predicted a higher prevalence closer to historic epi/enzootics and lower prevalence where urban features reduce fox density and movements, i.e. large areas of public green space, and fragmented habitat, as measured by road length and urban perimeter shape complexity. We visually assessed mange symptoms from georeferenced images of urban foxes submitted online by the public, thus surveying private land on a national scale. We measured the proportion of foxes apparently showing mange and used SATSCAN to identify spatial clusters of high infection risk. Landscape features were extracted from urban layers in GIS to determine associations. Although mange was widespread, we identified a single cluster of high prevalence (37.1%) in Northwest and Central England, which exceeded double mean prevalence overall (15.1%) and mirrors the northward expansion of urban fox distribution. Prevalence was positively correlated with perimeter shape complexity and negatively correlated with distance to the nearest city with mange, although the latter association was weak. Our findings show that citizen science can effectively monitor diseases with highly visible symptoms and suggest that fox movements are influential in explaining spatial patterns of prevalence.

中文翻译：

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公民科学确定的英国城市狐狸（Vulpes vulpes）的螨（Sarcoptes scabiei）的空间分布。

城市地区可能支持高密度的野生食肉动物，病原体会强烈影响食肉动物的种群。狐狸（Vulpes vulpes）是螨（Sarcoptes scabiei）的宿主，它感染了许多物种，传播方式与密度有关。在英国，城市红狐狸（Vulpes vulpes）最近人口密度增加，并且范围扩大。在这里，我们调查了城市狐狸流行率的相应变化。我们预测，通过道路长度和城市周边形状复杂性来衡量，接近历史流行病/动物流行病的患病率更高，而历史特征减少的狐狸患病率，其中城市特征降低了狐狸的密度和活动，即大面积的公共绿地和生境分散。我们从公众在线提交的城市狐狸地理参考图像中直观地评估了mange症状，从而在全国范围内对私有土地进行了调查。我们测量了明显显示出man杂的狐狸的比例，并使用SATSCAN来识别高感染风险的空间簇。从GIS中的城市图层中提取景观特征以确定关联。尽管管理广泛，我们在英格兰西北部和中部地区发现了一个高患病率集群（37.1％），超过总体平均患病率的两倍（15.1％），并反映了城市狐狸分布向北扩展。患病率与周边形状的复杂程度呈正相关，与到最近的城市的距离成负相关，尽管后者的关联性较弱。我们的发现表明，公民科学可以有效地监测具有明显症状的疾病，并表明狐狸的运动在解释流行率的空间格局方面具有影响力。患病率与周边形状的复杂程度呈正相关，与到最近的城市的距离成负相关，尽管后者的关联性较弱。我们的发现表明，公民科学可以有效地监测具有明显症状的疾病，并表明狐狸的运动在解释流行率的空间格局方面具有影响力。患病率与周边形状的复杂程度呈正相关，与到最近的城市的距离成负相关，尽管后者的关联性较弱。我们的发现表明，公民科学可以有效地监测具有明显症状的疾病，并表明狐狸的运动在解释流行率的空间格局方面具有影响力。