Quantity of Questing Blacklegged Ticks and Micro-scale Environmental Factors in Four Suburban Parks near New York City

During 2017 and 2018, we collected the quantity of questing blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis), also known as deer ticks, in 128 sampling sites of 5m by 5m in four state parks—Caumsett State Park, Connetquot River State Park, Rockefeller Park Preserve, and Fire Island National Seashore—around New York City. The blacklegged tick is the primary vector for the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, the pathogen of Lyme disease, in Northeastern United States. Using the flagging method, we collected and counted the numbers of adult and nymphal blacklegged ticks at each stie. Along with these quantities, we also recorded the geographic coordinates, ambient temperature, and relative humidity at the sampling sites. Using high-resolution aerial imagery and LiDAR data, we further derived land cover composition, ecotone boundary length, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), elevation, solar radiation, and other environmental factors. The data could be used to conduct longitudinal analysis at the same sampling sites as well as comparison with other sites. Ecologists and environmental scientists can use the data for spatiotemporal and statistical analyses of tick ecology at the local scale.

2017至2018年间，我们在纽约市周边的四座州立公园——考姆塞特州立公园（Caumsett State Park）、康涅狄夸特河州立公园（Connetquot River State Park）、洛克菲勒公园保护区（Rockefeller Park Preserve）以及火岛国家海岸（Fire Island National Seashore）——的128个5米×5米的采样点位，采集了寻宿主态黑腿蜱（Ixodes scapularis，又称鹿蜱）的种群数量。黑腿蜱是美国东北部地区莱姆病病原菌伯氏疏螺旋体（Borrelia burgdorferi）的主要传播媒介。本研究采用拖旗法（flagging method），在每个采样点位收集并统计了成虫与若虫态黑腿蜱的种群数量。除上述蜱类种群数量数据外，我们还记录了各采样点位的地理坐标、环境温度与相对湿度。借助高分辨率航空影像与激光雷达（LiDAR）数据，我们进一步衍生得到土地覆盖组成、生态交错带边界长度、归一化植被指数（NDVI）、海拔、太阳辐射及其他环境因子。该数据集可用于同一采样点位的纵向分析，亦可开展不同采样点位间的对比研究。生态学家与环境科学家可依托该数据开展局域尺度下蜱类生态学的时空统计分析。