Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2025
10:23
A Concoction Pipeline for Generating Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) Among Riparian and Aquatic Beetles
Published on: July 11, 2025
159
Tick abundance, diversity and pathogen data collected by the National Ecological Observatory Network
Sara H Paull1, Katherine M Thibault1, Abigail L Benson2
1Battelle, National Ecological Observatory Network, 1685 38th Street, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.
Gigabyte (Hong Kong, China)
|March 27, 2023
Summary
Tick-borne disease cases are rising in the USA due to factors like tick range expansion and habitat changes. Understanding these drivers is crucial for public health and managing tick populations and pathogen spread.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Epidemiology
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Tick-borne diseases are increasing in the USA.
- Drivers of tick range expansion and pathogen prevalence are complex and not fully understood.
- Ticks are sensitive to environmental and ecological changes due to their ectothermic nature and multi-host lifecycles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe data collected by the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) on tick abundance, diversity, and pathogen infection.
- To enable multiscale analyses to understand drivers of tick dynamics and pathogen prevalence.
- To investigate how climate and land-use changes may influence tick populations and disease transmission.
Main Methods:
- Ticks were collected using drag or flag methods across 46 terrestrial sites in the USA.
- Collections occurred multiple times during the growing season.
- Ticks were identified and enumerated by taxonomists, and nymphs were PCR-tested for pathogens.
Main Results:
- Data on tick abundance, diversity, and pathogen infection were collected.
- The dataset provides a foundation for analyzing tick dynamics and pathogen prevalence.
- Future analyses will explore the influence of environmental factors on tick-borne diseases.
Conclusions:
- The NEON tick data are essential for understanding the ecological factors influencing tick-borne diseases.
- These data will support research into the impacts of climate and land-use change on tick populations and disease risk.
- Further research using this dataset can inform public health strategies for tick-borne disease prevention.
Related Concept Videos
01:50Threats to Biodiversity
22.6K
There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...
22.6K
01:19What is Biodiversity?
27.6K
Biodiversity describes the variety of living things at multiple organizational levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. Species diversity includes all branches of the evolutionary tree from single-celled prokaryotic organisms, bacteria, and archaea, to the eukaryotic kingdoms: plants; animals; fungi; and protists. To date, there have been about 1.75 million species identified, and new species are discovered every week.
27.6K
01:26Principles of Disease Surveillance
153
Disease surveillance is the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data essential to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice. This process integrates data dissemination to entities responsible for preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability. Surveillance systems provide crucial information for action, helping public health authorities make informed decisions to manage and prevent outbreaks, ensure public safety, optimize...
153
02:02Ecological Niches
24.0K
All organisms have a position within an ecosystem. The complete set of living and nonliving factors—including food resources, climate, and terrain—that define the position of a given organism are collectively referred to as the organism’s ecological niche.
24.0K
02:30Naturalistic Observations
15.6K
If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances...
15.6K
01:08Data Collection by Observations
12.2K
Data collection refers to a systematic way of obtaining, observing, measuring, and analyzing accurate information. Observational studies are one of the most widely used methods of data collection. It involves collecting data by observing the behavior and physical characteristics of a sample without making any modifications to the sample.
An astronomer viewing the motion and brightness of stars in the sky and recording the data is an example of observational data collection. A botanist recording...
An astronomer viewing the motion and brightness of stars in the sky and recording the data is an example of observational data collection. A botanist recording...
12.2K