Amblyomma Americanum and Ixodes Scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) Within the Capital Beltway and Associated Human Pathogens in Greenbelt National Park, Maryland (USA)
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Amblyomma americanum and Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) within the Capital Beltway and Associated Human Pathogens in Greenbelt National Park, Maryland (USA) Authors: Carroll, J.F., Miller, M., and Kramer, M. Source: Journal of Entomological Science, 55(2) : 252-261 Published By: Georgia Entomological Society URL: https://doi.org/10.18474/0749-8004-55.2.252 BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Complete website, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/terms-of-use. Usage of BioOne Complete content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non - commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Journal-of-Entomological-Science on 14 Apr 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use Access provided by United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library (NAL) Amblyomma americanum and Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) within the Capital Beltway and Associated Human Pathogens in Greenbelt National Park, Maryland (USA)1 J.F. Carroll2, M. Miller3, and M. Kramer4 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA, ARS), Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, USA. J. Entomol. Sci. 55(2): 252–261 (April 2020) Abstract Populations of host-seeking blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis (Say) and lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (L.), nymphs were monitored at selected sites for 4 yr and at additional randomly selected sites in the Greenbelt National Park, MD for two of those years. Ticks collected from the random sites during the second year of the study were tested for the presence of human pathogens. Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson et al. was detected in 22.2% of the I. scapularis nymphs collected while Anaplasma phagocytophilum Foggie (Dumler et al.) was detected in 3.7%, and one nymph was coinfected with both pathogens. No I. scapularis nymphs tested positive for Babesia microti (Franc¸a) and no A. americanum nymphs tested positive for Ehrlichia spp. In the years when both random and nonrandom sites were sampled (sampled 2 d apart, n ¼ 14 d), significantly more A. americanum nymphs (P ¼ 0.003) were captured at the nonrandom sites than at the random sites; no difference (P ¼ 0.2415) was found for I. scapularis nymphs. No density effect due to vegetational communities was found for nymphs of either species of tick. Host-seeking nymphs of both species of ticks were abundant the first year of flag sampling, dropped dramatically in numbers the second year, and gradually increased (particularly A. americanum) the following 2 yr. The annual variations in tick densities demonstrate the value of early season–monitoring of tick populations on park premises, which affords park managers an opportunity to take appropriate measures in the event of a year of high tick abundance. Key Words Borrelia burgdorferi, Ehrlichia phagocytophilum, population fluctuation Every year, millions of visitors patronize national, state, and municipal parks for a variety of recreational purposes. Because parks typically feature at least some natural habitat and associated vertebrate and invertebrate fauna, exposure to biting arthropods can and should be expected by visitors. At elevated risk are visitors who are unfamiliar with the arthropod hazards of a particular park, especially one with camp grounds. Out-of-state visitors often arrive from areas of the country where ticks and tick-borne disease are not a concern and are consequently naı¨ve to the dangers of exposure to ticks. Greenbelt National Park (445.2 ha) is not only located 1Received 11 May 2019; accepted for publication 26 June 2019. 2Corresponding author (retired) (email: [email protected]),4002 September Song Drive, Manchaca, TX 78652, USA. 3Laboratory Sciences Division, Public Health Command-Atlantic, Fort Meade, MD 20755-5225, USA. 4USDA, ARS, Statistics Group, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA. 252 Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Journal-of-Entomological-Science on 14 Apr 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use Access provided by United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library (NAL) CARROLL ET AL.: Tick Populations and Infection Rates 253 near two large urban centers (Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD), but many campers use the park as a home base while sightseeing in and around the nation’s capital just a few kilometers from the park. By their nature, parks are ideal locales for human-tick contact and have been the sites for several research studies as tick problems have grown in North America and elsewhere (Eisen et al. 2013; Paskewitz et al. 2001; Prusinski et al. 2014). Recently, Johnson et al. (2016) reported infection rates of Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson et al., B. miyamotoi Fukunaga et al., Anaplasma phagocytophilum Foggie (Dumler et al.), and Babesia microti (Franc¸a) in nymphal Ixodes scapularis Say collected in one New England and eight Mid-Atlantic National Parks including Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC, Manassas National Battlefield and Prince William Forest Park in nearby Virginia, and Catoctin Mountain Park and Monocacy National Battlefield in central Maryland. Lone star ticks, Amblyomma americanum (L.), have long been notorious as nuisance biters in parks and other venues (Barnard et al. 1988). There are growing concerns about the role of this species in the transmission of pathogens to humans and about its expanding range (Childs and Paddock 2003; Goddard and Varela- Stokes 2009; Jordan and Egizi 2019; Stromdahl and Hickling 2012). The aggressive, host-seeking behavior of A. americanum and its capacity to attain dense populations make it readily noticed by humans (Armstrong et al. 2001). Lyme disease is major human health problem in parts of the United States (Centers for Disease Control [CDC] 2017). The blacklegged tick, I. scapularis, the principal vector of B. burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease (Burgdorfer et al. 1982; Spielman et al. 1985), became widespread in central Maryland in the 1980s and 1990s, with Maryland attaining a high incidence of Lyme disease (Pepin et al. 2012); it is regularly among the top 10 states for Lyme disease in the United States (CDC 2017). In 2008, we were alerted to tick problems on a school campus bordered on three sides by Greenbelt National Park. In order to better understand the tick situation on the school premises, we obtained approval from the National Park Service, National Capital Parks–East to sample for host-seeking ticks in Greenbelt National Park. The disturbingly high densities of A. americanum and I. scapularis populations we found by flagging in the park in 2009 led us to broaden the sampling and conduct an infectivity study in 2010, with continued population sampling in 2011 and 2012. Materials and Methods Study area and sample sites. Greenbelt National Park is in Prince George’s Co., MD, and lies northeast of Washington, DC within the Capital Beltway. The park straddles the Baltimore–Washington Parkway (Gladys Noon-Spellman Parkway) (a roughly northeast–southwest highway). Human use of the park is mostly confined to the area west of the parkway, as there are no campgrounds, picnic areas, ball fields, or trails in Greenbelt National Park east of the parkway. The park is mostly wooded and harbors white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann) and smaller vertebrates essential to sustaining tick populations. In 2009, 17 nonrandom sites were selected by on-site inspection for repeated sampling. Only wooded sites that appeared capable of supporting I. scapularis and Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Journal-of-Entomological-Science on 14 Apr 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use Access provided by United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library (NAL) 254 J. Entomol. Sci. Vol. 55, No. 2 (2020) A. americanum (Ginsberg and Ewing 1989; Lubelczyk et al. 2004; Ostfeld et al. 1995; Sonenshine 1993) were considered for sampling; parking lots, closely mowed ball fields, and road sides were not included. Other factors in nonrandom site selection were accessibility from roads, proximity to camp grounds and trails, and geographical representation of the north, center, and south of the area west of the parkway. The nonrandom sites were sampled annually 2009–2012. In 2010, 51 sets of geographic coordinates were randomly selected and each designated the center of a sample site. Coordinates of the random sample sites were transposed onto a map of the vegetational communities in Greenbelt National Park, and each site was categorized as to the vegetational community at its location. Four vegetational communities (low elevation mixed oak/heath, mesic mixed hardwood, pine oak woodland, and successional mixed deciduous forest) accounted for 84% of the random sites, with low elevation