Thesis
Environmental influences on the host finding behavior of juvenile black-legged ticks
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2019
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/100845
Abstract
Vector feeding behavior can have a profound influence on the transmission of vector-borne diseases. In the case of black-legged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, which vectors the agents of Lyme disease, babesiosis, and other pathogens, the timing and propensity of questing can determine which hosts are fed upon as well as the risk of contact with humans. Yet we know little about the controls and constraints on tick host finding behavior under natural conditions. Ticks must balance the demand for an encounter with a blood meal host with the risk of desiccation while on a fixed energy budget. Prior research has suggested that questing activity varies with conditions (e.g., temperature, relative humidity), light-dark cycles, and energy reserves, but the findings have been idiosyncratic and the dominant factor(s) in nature remains unknown. We measured questing activity of nymphs and larvae during the day and night in microcosm enclosures spanning a range of suitable tick habitats within a site in the Northeast. Nymph activity increased slightly during dawn and dust, opposite of larvae, and declined slightly with air temperature and rain. Although, the patterns of activity were not consistent across all of the sites, rather it appears that a percentage of ticks may have quested continuously regardless of conditions, indicating that neither climatic conditions nor light-dark cycles have an appreciable influence on tick questing activity.
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Details
- Title
- Environmental influences on the host finding behavior of juvenile black-legged ticks
- Creators
- Christina Elizabeth Thomas
- Contributors
- Jesse L. Brunner (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Biological Sciences, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525042001842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis