Phenology of five tick species in the central Great Plains

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 19; no. 5; p. e0302689
• Main Authors: Ng'eno, Eric, Alkishe, Abdelghafar, Romero-Alvarez, Daniel, Sundstrom, Kellee, Cobos, Marlon E, Belgum, Hallee, Chitwood, Abigail, Grant, Amber, Keck, Alex, Kloxin, Josiah, Letterman, Brayden, Lineberry, Megan, McClung, Kristin, Nippoldt, Sydney, Sharum, Sophia, Struble, Stefan, Thomas, Breanne, Ghosh, Anuradha, Brennan, Robert, Little, Susan, Peterson, A Townsend
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 09-05-2024; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Activity patterns; Amblyomma - growth & development; Amblyomma - physiology; Animals; Arachnids; Biology and Life Sciences; Carbon dioxide; Climate change; Dermacentor - growth & development; Dermacentor - physiology; Dominant species; Ecosystem; Environmental aspects; Female; Geographical distribution; Habitats; Humidity; Ice; Ixodes - growth & development; Ixodes - physiology; Ixodidae - growth & development; Ixodidae - physiology; Kansas; Lyme disease; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Oklahoma; Parasitic diseases; Parks & recreation areas; People and places; Phenology; Seasons; Tick-borne diseases; Ticks; Ticks - growth & development; Ticks - physiology; Varieties; Vector-borne diseases; Vegetation; Oklahoma; Kansas; United States; Great Plains; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302689

The states of Kansas and Oklahoma, in the central Great Plains, lie at the western periphery of the geographic distributions of several tick species. As the focus of most research on ticks and tick-borne diseases has been on Lyme disease which commonly occurs in areas to the north and east, the ticks of this region have seen little research attention. Here, we report on the phenology and activity patterns shown by tick species observed at 10 sites across the two states and explore factors associated with abundance of all and life specific individuals of the dominant species. Ticks were collected in 2020-2022 using dragging, flagging and carbon-dioxide trapping techniques, designed to detect questing ticks. The dominant species was A. americanum (24098, 97%) followed by Dermacentor variabilis (370, 2%), D. albipictus (271, 1%), Ixodes scapularis (91, <1%) and A. maculatum (38, <1%). Amblyomma americanum, A. maculatum and D. variabilis were active in Spring and Summer, while D. albipictus and I. scapularis were active in Fall and Winter. Factors associated with numbers of individuals of A. americanum included day of year, habitat, and latitude. Similar associations were observed when abundance was examined by life-stage. Overall, the picture is one of broadly distributed tick species that shows seasonal limitations in the timing of their questing activity.