By Blake Jackson
University of Kentucky researchers are conducting a field study to better understand tick populations, their relationships with host animals, and how land use influences their distribution across Kentucky, according to Jennifer Elwell.
At the Oran C. Little Research Center in Versailles, students use white coveralls, tall boots, cloth drags, and metal traps as part of the ongoing research.
The project, supported primarily by the UK Student Sustainability Council, is examining the role of wild mice in tick ecology. Hannah Tiffin, Ph.D., an assistant Extension professor of veterinary entomology, said the research is intended to address a gap in available information about ticks and their hosts in Kentucky.
"A lot of our northeastern and mid-Atlantic states have that data already, but we're still lacking a lot of that information," Tiffin said.
"We're really trying to establish that baseline and see what ticks the mice are moving around because they're really important in a lot of different ways for tick ecology."
Researchers are studying four Woodford County locations representing different land uses, including a research farm, wildlife sanctuary, cattle farm, and horse pasture. They collect ticks through several methods, such as examining livestock, trapping wild mice, monitoring artificial mouse nesting boxes, and dragging white cloth across vegetation.
The collected ticks are identified and sent to Virginia Commonwealth University for testing to determine whether they carry disease-causing pathogens. Mice are particularly important because they can transport ticks through different environments and serve as hosts for pathogens, including the bacterium associated with Lyme disease.
Graduate researcher Ashley Russo is also evaluating nesting boxes designed to collect ticks while reducing the time researchers spend trapping and handling mice.
"We're hoping that the nesting boxes can help future tick research by putting less of a strain on the researchers," Russo said. "The nesting boxes could help mitigate some of that labor effort, and instead of having these long days where we're out trapping and handling these mice, we could just screw off the bottom and see those ticks in the bottom."
The project also provides students with practical experience in wildlife handling, tick identification, field research, and vector-borne disease education.
If the nesting-box approach proves successful, Tiffin hopes it could eventually become a community science program allowing Kentucky residents to help monitor local tick populations.
Photo Credit: sabrina-hounshell
Categories: Kentucky, Education