Ectoparasites of European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in Germany and their health impact

Parasites & Vectors

Table 3 Results of the binomial generalised linear models testing the influence of sampling month, sampling year, sex, age, weight and health status on the infestation rates of European hedgehogs with Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes hexagonus/I. canisuga

Variables tested in GLM model	GLM Model A: I. ricinus				GLM Model B: I. hexagonus/I. canisuga
Variables tested in GLM model	Estimate	SE	Z	P	Estimate	SE	Z	P
Intercept	− 0.25	0.96	− 0.26	0.797	0.62	0.96	0.65	0.517
Sampling month (reference month: January)
February	0.40	0.76	0.53	0.598	0.14	0.77	0.19	0.851
March	0.73	0.74	0.99	0.320	0.17	0.74	0.23	0.818
April	2.46	0.72	3.43	0.001*	0.13	0.66	0.20	0.839
May	3.23	0.77	4.18	< 0.001*	0.14	0.65	0.22	0.829
June	2.09	0.75	2.78	0.005*	− 0.04	0.70	− 0.06	0.951
July	0.90	0.70	1.29	0.198	0.64	0.72	0.89	0.375
August	1.40	0.77	1.82	0.069	0.43	0.76	0.57	0.572
September	1.07	0.72	1.48	0.138	0.40	0.73	0.55	0.585
October	0.58	0.69	0.84	0.404	0.09	0.70	0.13	0.896
November	− 1.14	0.73	− 1.56	0.118	0.12	0.68	0.18	0.858
December	− 1.24	0.89	− 1.39	0.164	-0.65	0.77	− 0.85	0.397
Sampling year (reference year: 2018)
2019	− 0.67	0.46	− 1.48	0.140	0.32	0.42	0.77	0.440
2020	− 0.74	0.46	− 1.60	0.110	0.06	0.43	0.15	0.882
2021	− 1.22	0.67	− 1.82	0.069	0.15	0.59	0.26	0.796
Sex (reference: male)	− 0.32	0.25	− 1.27	0.204	0.04	0.23	0.20	0.844
Age (reference age: subadult)	− 0.37	0.45	− 0.81	0.420	− 0.47	0.40	− 1.17	0.241
Weight	< 0.01	< 0.01	1.50	0.134	0.00	0.00	1.89	0.059
Health Status (reference status: not impaired)
Moderately impaired	0.07	0.69	0.11	0.915	− 0.74	0.71	− 1.04	0.297
Severely impaired	0.01	0.70	0.01	0.989	− 0.70	0.72	− 0.97	0.333

GLM Generalised linear model, SE standard error
*Statistically significant at P ≤ 0.05
^aModel A was significantly different from a null model: Chi-square = 107.23, df = 19, P < 0.001. Model B: Chi-square = 11.83, df = 19, P = 0.893

ISSN: 1756-3305