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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Drivers Of Rickettsial Pathogen Transmission And Spillover In Local Tick Populations In Southeastern Virginia, Alexandra Cumbie
Drivers Of Rickettsial Pathogen Transmission And Spillover In Local Tick Populations In Southeastern Virginia, Alexandra Cumbie
Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations
Cases of spotted fever group rickettsiosis are becoming more prevalent in the United States. In Virginia, there are three human-biting ticks which are largely responsible for the spread of rickettsial pathogens and the increase in disease cases. These species include Dermacentor variabilis, Amblyomma americanum, and Amblyomma maculatum; all of which are vectors of rickettsial agents to vertebrate hosts. These species are sympatric as adults and have the potential to share large and small mammal hosts. Their interactions on and off host and their associated rickettsiae were the focus of this dissertation work. Amblyomma americanum is the vector …
A Hitchhiker’S Guide To Invasion Biology: Describing The Ecological Mechanisms Underlying The Range Expansions Of Two Ixodid Tick Species, Robyn M. Nadolny
A Hitchhiker’S Guide To Invasion Biology: Describing The Ecological Mechanisms Underlying The Range Expansions Of Two Ixodid Tick Species, Robyn M. Nadolny
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
Increasing incidence of many tick-borne diseases have been linked to recent expansions of tick species distributions. Many tick species are expanding their ranges because of anthropogenic changes in the landscape, shifting climatic variables, and increasing populations of suitable host species and tick habitat. Few empirical studies have been performed, however, investigating the ecological mechanisms underlying these range expansions. Ticks are parasitic organisms that disperse across landscape by hitchhiking on hosts, but must then survive in the environment for long periods of time between bloodmeals. Two species of ixodid tick, Ixodes affinis and Amblyomma maculatum, are simultaneously expanding their ranges throughout …