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Updated: Jan 13, 2026
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Tick Microbiome Characterization by Next-Generation 16S rRNA Amplicon Sequencing
Published on: August 25, 2018
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Invasive wineberry influences tick-borne disease dynamics across spatial scales.
Payton M Phillips1, Jocelyn E Behm1
1Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases
|January 7, 2026
Summary
Invasive wineberry shrubs in Pennsylvania aggregate ticks and their hosts, increasing the risk of tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis. Management of invasive plants is crucial for controlling disease spread.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
- Disease Ecology
Background:
- Tick-borne diseases are increasing in urban areas, driven by complex host-vector-pathogen interactions.
- Urbanization and invasive species like wineberry alter these dynamics at landscape and microhabitat scales.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how urbanization and the invasive shrub wineberry impact tick-borne disease dynamics in southeastern Pennsylvania.
- To understand these impacts across microhabitat, plot, and landscape scales.
Main Methods:
- A hierarchical field study was conducted at three scales.
- Data collection focused on host activity, tick abundance, and pathogen prevalence in relation to urbanization and wineberry presence.
Main Results:
- Increased small mammal activity at the microhabitat scale correlated with higher prevalence of Babesia microti and Anaplasma phagocytophilum.
- Tick abundance and overall pathogen prevalence were higher in wineberry-invaded plots.
- Pathogen risk varied across different spatial scales.
Conclusions:
- Invasive shrubs like wineberry can act as ecological traps, concentrating ticks and hosts and thus increasing tick-borne disease risk.
- Understanding the scale-dependent impacts of invasive vegetation is vital for effective disease management strategies.
