D3343: Host and landscape drivers of tick community diversity

The recent rise in the risk of tick-borne diseases has resulted in increased interest in the distribution and patterns of hard ticks. Because of their public health importance, studies often focus on disease vectors such as the black legged tick (Ixodes scapularis), western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus), or lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum). However, there are dozens of hard tick species endemic to North America that are not common vectors of disease either because they rarely feed on humans or because they are non-competent for medically important pathogens. The community composition and abundance of tick species richness in general is an understudied topic but could be important for our understanding of disease vectors. Tick species that are not disease vectors may compete for host space with medically relevant vectors, for instance, or may indicate vertebrate host community conditions that have relevance for pathogen transmission. In this study, we collected questing and host-attached ticks from an oak woodland habitat in the far western United States to determine how habitat context and vertebrate community composition affects the diversity of tick species. Our results show that oak woodland habitat supports a surprising diversity of hard tick species, many of which are not important for disease transmission.