Assistant Professor Washington State University Pullman, Washington
The incidence of tick-borne disease has increased dramatically in recent decades, with urban areas increasingly recognized as high risk for exposure to infected ticks. Green spaces may play a key role in facilitating the invasion of ticks, hosts and pathogens into residential areas, particularly where they connect residential yards with larger natural areas. However, the factors mediating tick distribution across heterogeneous urban landscapes remains poorly characterized. As part of a study integrating the natural and human dimension of tick-borne diseases in anthropogenic landscapes, we determined the residential yard- and local landscape-level characteristics associated with the presence of three tick species of current and growing public health importance in residential yards across Staten Island, NY: Ixodes scapularis, Amblyomma americanum and Haemaphysalis longicornis. By conducting tick dragging and host community characterizations using camera traps and hair traps in yards, we found that the amount and configuration of canopy cover immediately surrounding residential yards strongly predicted the presence of I. scapularis and A. americanum, but not that of H. longicornis. Within yards, we tested the association of ticks and hosts with habitat suitability and wildlife attractive (e.g. food, shelter) or repellent (e.g. fencing) features. We found different responses to yard-level features depending on the type of hosts (small mammals, medium sized mammals and deer) which were reflected in the likelihood of finding the different tick species in yards. Thus, we found evidence for both the landscape connectivity and yard features contribution to structuring the risk of tick-borne diseases in urban areas.
