Predicting Future Tick Threats

More than 100 years of historical data show shifting tick populations

Image credit: Bigstock

Problem

How can we predict new or emerging tickborne diseases?

The blacklegged tick (deer tick) is the most prevalent species in the eastern United States.
As the primary vector of Lyme disease, the deer tick is currently the biggest threat.

Findings

Entomologists studied data collected over the past 117 years to track shifts in the dominant species of ticks in Pennsylvania.

The team compiled data from more than 7,000 tick specimens collected at Penn State since 1900.
The changes correlate with climate changes and variability, shifts in land use that led to habitat loss and fragmentation, and changes in human or animal behavior that brought ticks and their hosts in closer proximity.

Impact

Combining robust surveillance with analysis of historical data helps public health officials and researchers identify high-risk areas, discover ecological trends, and develop predictive models for assessing the risk of tickborne diseases.

Research Area: Integrated Health Solutions

Research Credit

Team

Joyce Sakamoto, Steven Jacobs, and Damie Pak

Participating Departments

Entomology

Competitive Funding

National Science Foundation; Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences; Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences

Federal and State Appropriations

USDA NIFA Hatch Project PEN04608, Accession #1010032

Emerging Discoveries

Penn State entomologists join project to track historical parasite populations

September 06, 2019

Supported by a $4.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation, a multi-institutional project will draw on Penn State entomological expertise and collections to document and digitize the historical population dynamics of arthropod parasites, such as ticks, lice and mosquitoes.

More than 100 years of data show Pennsylvania tick population shift

May 03, 2019

The prevalence of the most abundant species of ticks found in Pennsylvania has shifted over the last century, according to Penn State scientists, who analyzed 117 years' worth of specimens and data submitted primarily by residents from around the state.