A mark-release-recapture approach to characterize tick questing preferences and dispersal distance

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p> <jats:list list-type="order"> <jats:list-item> <jats:p>Studying tick behavior is crucial for understanding how climate, disturbances, and land-use changes shape tick populations and tick-borne disease risk. Mark-release-recapture studies can provide valuable answers to questions regarding tick movement and behavior, population sizes, and survivorship.</jats:p> </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:p>Standard tick mark-release-recapture provides limited resolution to understanding individual behaviors, limiting our ability to answer questions that require repeated observations of the same individuals. We developed a new, operationally simple method to track large populations of individual ticks over space and time.</jats:p> </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:p>We found non-random movement patterns, including directed movement towards grass, vegetation-dependent dispersal distances and rate, and sex-based differences in movement.</jats:p> </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:p> <jats:bold> <jats:italic>Practical implication:</jats:italic> </jats:bold> This method can be applied to other tick species to assess tick longevity, determine dispersal ranges and rate, and analyze questing behavior and success. </jats:p> </jats:list-item> </jats:list> </jats:p>