Irruptive mammal host populations shape tularemia epidemiology

Pearls: Host population dynamics are the key of wildlife zoonotic risk; Aquatic and terrestrial agents of tularemia coexist in nature; Irrigation has provided aquatic reservoirs and a grass-loving amplification agent for tularemia in Spain; Fluctuating mammalian populations shape tularemia epidemiology; Tularemia surveillance must target unstable mammalian host populations.This work was funded by Programa Estatal de I+D+i Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (Spain). This publication is part of the project ECOTULA (reference: CGL2015-66962-C2-1-R).Peer Reviewe