Seasonal Dynamics of Tick Species in the Ecotone of Parks and Recreational Areas in Middlesex County (New Jersey, USA)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: People using forested parks for recreation often spend most time in grassy paths or meadows. These transitional zones are referred to as “ecotones”. In this study, we monitored the seasonal dynamics of questing ticks in forest/path and forest/meadow ecotones in five areas in Middlese...

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Autores principales: González, Julia, Fonseca, Dina M., Toledo, Alvaro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10057079/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36975943
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects14030258
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author González, Julia
Fonseca, Dina M.
Toledo, Alvaro
author_facet González, Julia
Fonseca, Dina M.
Toledo, Alvaro
author_sort González, Julia
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: People using forested parks for recreation often spend most time in grassy paths or meadows. These transitional zones are referred to as “ecotones”. In this study, we monitored the seasonal dynamics of questing ticks in forest/path and forest/meadow ecotones in five areas in Middlesex County, New Jersey. We found anthropophilic species such as Ixodes scapularis, Amblyomma americanum, and Dermacentor variabilis coexisting with Haemaphysalis longicornis, an invasive tick species first detected in NJ in 2017. Surveillance was conducted weekly from March to November 2020, and collected ticks were identified. The most abundant tick species was H. longicornis. The presence of anthropophilic ticks suggests the need for specific control approaches to target these habitats. In addition, the extraordinarily high numbers of H. longicornis collected in ecotones highlight the importance of monitoring its expansion due to its potential as a vector of animal and human diseases. ABSTRACT: People often use parks and other forested areas for outdoor activities such as hiking and walking their dogs. Areas of primary use are paths or grassy meadows on the edges of the forests that constitute transitional areas between different plant communities (aka ecotones). In this study, we monitored the seasonal dynamics of questing ticks in forest/meadow and forest/path ecotones in five areas in Middlesex County, New Jersey (NJ). We found anthropophilic species such as Ixodes scapularis, Amblyomma americanum, and Dermacentor variabilis coexisting with Haemaphysalis longicornis, an invasive tick species first detected in NJ in 2017. Surveillance was conducted weekly from March to November 2020, and collected ticks were identified. The most abundant tick species was H. longicornis (83%), followed by A. americanum (9%), I. scapularis (7%), and D. variabilis (<1%). The seasonal dynamics of A. americanum and I. scapularis in the ecotone were similar to previous surveys in forest habitats. The presence of anthropophilic ticks, particularly I. scapularis, suggests the need for specific control approaches to target these habitats. In addition, the extraordinarily high numbers of H. longicornis collected in ecotones (1.70 ticks/m(2)) and frequent reports of this species on dogs highlight the importance of monitoring its expansion due to its potential as a vector of animal and human diseases.
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spelling pubmed-100570792023-03-30 Seasonal Dynamics of Tick Species in the Ecotone of Parks and Recreational Areas in Middlesex County (New Jersey, USA) González, Julia Fonseca, Dina M. Toledo, Alvaro Insects Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: People using forested parks for recreation often spend most time in grassy paths or meadows. These transitional zones are referred to as “ecotones”. In this study, we monitored the seasonal dynamics of questing ticks in forest/path and forest/meadow ecotones in five areas in Middlesex County, New Jersey. We found anthropophilic species such as Ixodes scapularis, Amblyomma americanum, and Dermacentor variabilis coexisting with Haemaphysalis longicornis, an invasive tick species first detected in NJ in 2017. Surveillance was conducted weekly from March to November 2020, and collected ticks were identified. The most abundant tick species was H. longicornis. The presence of anthropophilic ticks suggests the need for specific control approaches to target these habitats. In addition, the extraordinarily high numbers of H. longicornis collected in ecotones highlight the importance of monitoring its expansion due to its potential as a vector of animal and human diseases. ABSTRACT: People often use parks and other forested areas for outdoor activities such as hiking and walking their dogs. Areas of primary use are paths or grassy meadows on the edges of the forests that constitute transitional areas between different plant communities (aka ecotones). In this study, we monitored the seasonal dynamics of questing ticks in forest/meadow and forest/path ecotones in five areas in Middlesex County, New Jersey (NJ). We found anthropophilic species such as Ixodes scapularis, Amblyomma americanum, and Dermacentor variabilis coexisting with Haemaphysalis longicornis, an invasive tick species first detected in NJ in 2017. Surveillance was conducted weekly from March to November 2020, and collected ticks were identified. The most abundant tick species was H. longicornis (83%), followed by A. americanum (9%), I. scapularis (7%), and D. variabilis (<1%). The seasonal dynamics of A. americanum and I. scapularis in the ecotone were similar to previous surveys in forest habitats. The presence of anthropophilic ticks, particularly I. scapularis, suggests the need for specific control approaches to target these habitats. In addition, the extraordinarily high numbers of H. longicornis collected in ecotones (1.70 ticks/m(2)) and frequent reports of this species on dogs highlight the importance of monitoring its expansion due to its potential as a vector of animal and human diseases. MDPI 2023-03-05 /pmc/articles/PMC10057079/ /pubmed/36975943 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects14030258 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
González, Julia
Fonseca, Dina M.
Toledo, Alvaro
Seasonal Dynamics of Tick Species in the Ecotone of Parks and Recreational Areas in Middlesex County (New Jersey, USA)
title Seasonal Dynamics of Tick Species in the Ecotone of Parks and Recreational Areas in Middlesex County (New Jersey, USA)
title_full Seasonal Dynamics of Tick Species in the Ecotone of Parks and Recreational Areas in Middlesex County (New Jersey, USA)
title_fullStr Seasonal Dynamics of Tick Species in the Ecotone of Parks and Recreational Areas in Middlesex County (New Jersey, USA)
title_full_unstemmed Seasonal Dynamics of Tick Species in the Ecotone of Parks and Recreational Areas in Middlesex County (New Jersey, USA)
title_short Seasonal Dynamics of Tick Species in the Ecotone of Parks and Recreational Areas in Middlesex County (New Jersey, USA)
title_sort seasonal dynamics of tick species in the ecotone of parks and recreational areas in middlesex county (new jersey, usa)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10057079/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36975943
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects14030258
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