Researchers Map Ticks Across the State

After eons of landing on the legs and arms of humans and animals, ticks have landed smack-dab in the middle of the research interests of University of Nebraska–Lincoln master’s student Dominic Cristiano.

Cristiano, a member of the NSF National Research Traineeship Program at Nebraska, studies issues at the intersection of human health, wildlife disease and the environment, and these eight-legged critters (yes, ticks are arachnids, not insects) suck the blood of their hosts and spread diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, Alpha-gal and Heartland virus.

Cristiano and his co-advisors, Elizabeth Van Wormer and Larkin Powell, are working to lower the health risks ticks pose in Nebraska by creating maps showing the territories of the four species considered the greatest threats in the state. The species are the Rocky Mountain wood tick, Lone Star tick, blacklegged tick and American dog tick.

“We are creating maps showing the current distribution of these medically important tick species and then also maps of suitable habitat that might be at risk for future invasion from the tick species,” Cristiano said. “As a follow-up to that, we plan to do human dimensions work where we survey lay users’ risk perception for tick-borne diseases and different tick issues throughout the state and compare the perceived risk of tick-borne diseases and how that lines up with the actual assessed ecological risk.”

To determine current ranges and predict future ones, Cristiano collaborated with with Roberto Cortiñas, assistant professor in veterinary sciences, to examine data compiled from 1911 to 2011. The data includes hospital records, museum records and other tick collection records from around the state and nation. Cristiano is also working to build a partnership with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and the “Tick Tag Go” citizen science effort through iNaturalist. He will use the data amassed and knowledge of habitats suitable for ticks to produce the maps.