Tick phenology may also account for tick abundance on hosts. Grooming is hypothesized to be more important in tick burdens than host attraction (Egyed 2017), so ticks may be more likely to be removed after tissue damage. 2009) or cutaneous irritation by parasites or other causes (Alexander 1986) can also cause increased grooming that can result in tick removal. Conversely, an increase of ticks on animal hosts post-tissue damage may not be the expected outcome. While little is known about blacklegged tick chemical ecology, it is possible that inflammatory responses causing a change in host odor could be attractive to this tick species (Millet et al. One potential explanation is the resulting inflammation at the site of tissue damage as ticks can orient and move towards thermal stimuli (Otálora-Luna et al. The reasons for the observed increase in tick numbers on mice in both studies are unknown. Mice marked using classic metal laboratory ear tags or toe clipping had double the number of ticks compared to mice that were not marked (Ostfeld et al. Two studies have suggested that individual marking methods may influence tick burdens on Peromyscus spp. ( 2011) found that ticks were more attracted to odors from fecal matter of sick or injured animals than healthy animals. Tick attachment may also be a result of injury or illness experienced by tick hosts. 2007), temperature, humidity, and seasonality (Burtis et al. Tick burdens may also vary within and between years corresponding to phenology and fluctuations in host availability (Clotfelter et al. For example, high densities of both mice and unattached ticks correlate to low tick burdens on mice but high attachment rates (i.e., high numbers of mice with at least one tick Ostfeld et al. Population dynamics, including mouse and tick densities, have also been shown to impact tick burdens. Larger adult male mice are typically infected with greater numbers of ticks than smaller, juvenile, or female mice (Butler et al. 2020) have been shown to influence tick parasitism on individual mice. Physiological factors including host age, body size, and sex (Butler et al. is important for developing new control methods and understanding the epidemiology of the pathogen under natural conditions. Understanding the ecology of Peromyscus spp. scapularis, approximately 80% of studies evaluating tick burdens on small mammals in the northeastern United States have focused on Peromyscus spp. Because of the ecological role mice play as reservoirs for B. Lyme disease is the most reported vector-borne zoonotic disease in the United States, and the causative agent is vectored by blacklegged ticks ( Ixodes scapularis Say Rosenberg et al. White-footed mice ( Peromyscus leucopus ), and deer mice ( Peromyscus maniculatus hereafter referred to as Peromyscus spp.) are important reservoir hosts for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, the causative agent of Lyme disease, and other important zoonotic pathogens such as Anaplasma spp. The genus has been used as a model organism in the fields of ecology, evolution, physiology, reproductive biology, and neuroscience. Mice in the genus Peromyscus are the most abundant species in North America (Bedford and Hoekstra 2015). for tick ecology studies should consider personal preferences, cost, ease of use, and durability. Therefore, marking method choice for Peromyscus spp. There were no significant differences in tick burden on captured mice among the tissue damaging marking methods and the control. The overall tick burden fluctuated between months, but no significant difference in total tick burden was found between captured male and female mice. Mice were captured biweekly using Sherman traps from May through September in 2020. Our study was designed to evaluate 3 tissue-damaging marking methods including lab tags, round tags, and ear punches alongside a non-tissue damage control (blue dye) to determine if any method affected tick burdens on captured mice. Previous studies have suggested that tissue-damaging marking methods were associated with increased tick burdens, which may have consequences in ecological studies. mice have been used as model organisms in several fields of research and are frequently trapped to evaluate broad ecological concepts. scapularis, particularly white-footed mice and deer mice from the genus Peromyscus. scapularis ecology, and, by extension, the transmission of the Lyme disease pathogen. Studies investigating host-parasite interactions are valuable in understanding I. The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, is the vector of Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiological agent that causes Lyme disease in North America.
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