Environmental changes effects on tick-borne disease exposure

Host-seeking ticks were sampled primarily using carbon dioxide-baited traps on nine Department of Defense installations in the southeastern United States in 2017-2018. The goals of this research were to study the effects of prescribed fire management, plant invasions, and climate change on exposure risk for tick-borne diseases. Research effort focused on longleaf pine habitat with herbaceous understory. In this study, nymph and adult life stages of Amblyomma americanum (lone star tick) were most frequently sampled, but other ticks species were captured including Amblyomma maculatum, Dermacentor variabilis, and Ixodes scapularis. Pathogen analysis was performed using a combination of Fluidigm PCR and Illumina sequencing.