Host identification in unfed ticks from stable isotope compositions (delta C-13 and delta N-15)

Dieter Heylen is funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (EU-Horizon 2020, Individual Global Fellowship, project no. 799609) and the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders (FWO). The research was partly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The feeding of ticks on hosts was performed in accordance with ethical committee-approved animal use protocols (birds - University of Antwerp: 2009-32; rodents-IS Insect Services GmbH: Landesamt fur Gesundheit und Soziales H 0222/01 and Department of Economy of Canton Neuchatel: authorization 2/2009; ruminants - Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut: permission ref. no. LALLF M-V/TSD/7221.3-2.1-010/07). All authors contributed critically to the draft manuscript and approved the final version submitted for publication. The authors declare that have no conflicts of interest.