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The Assessment Of Predictor Variables For Hard Tick Abundance In Southwestern Missouri, Casey L. Adkins

MSU Graduate Theses

The risk of tick-borne infection is increasing across the United States, and in Missouri, ticks are expanding into novel regions due to climate change, habitat fragmentation, and biodiversity loss. Regions in which ticks are encroaching experience novel vectors for lineage associated pathogens. Novel tick detection can be low due to sampling practices targeting known ticks, which can lead to unreliable distribution maps and poor predictive distribution models. Such models should account for biotic factors, abiotic factors, and their interactions to provide a dynamic view of their impact on tick abundance and identify variables that can serve as indicators. Further, a …