10.5061/DRYAD.931ZCRJNZ
Brunner, Jesse
0000-0003-4894-8274
Washington State University
Ostfeld, Richard
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
LaDeau, Shannon
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Valentine, Elizabeth
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Schierer, Megan
University of Maine
Killilea, Mary
New York University
Data for: Off-host survival of blacklegged ticks in eastern North America:
A multi-stage, multi-year, and multi-site study
Dryad
dataset
2022
FOS: Biological sciences
Ixodes scapularis
Vector biology
daily air temperatures
vapor pressure deficit
survivorship
molt timing
United States Department of Defense
https://ror.org/0447fe631
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) grant
16 RC01-031/RC-2637
2022-12-19T00:00:00Z
2022-12-19T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1572
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6803051
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6803053
862711 bytes
9
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Climatic conditions are widely thought to govern the distribution and
abundance of ectoparasites, such as the blacklegged tick (Ixodes
scapularis), vector of the agents of Lyme disease and other emerging human
pathogens. However, translating physiological tolerances to distributional
limits or mortality is challenging. Ticks may be able to avoid or tolerate
unsuitable conditions, and what is lethal to one life history stage may
not extend to others. Thus, even after decades of research there are clear
gaps in our knowledge about how climatic conditions determine tick
distributions or patterns of abundance. We present the results of a
comprehensive, three-year study of the influence of local temperatures and
vapor pressure deficits on the survival of each free-living, off-host
stage of I. scapularis in semi-natural enclosures across three locations
that span their current distribution in eastern North America. We found
that only larvae are clearly sensitive to direct mortality from climatic
conditions, specifically desiccating conditions, whereas mortality of
nymphs and adults appears to stem from exhausted energy reserves. We also
found strong evidence that key developmental transitions in the tick’s
life cycle—fed larvae molting into to nymphs, fed nymphs molting into
adults, and fed females producing larvae (via egg masses)—were all
strongly temperature-dependent, though temperatures were not limiting in
any of our sites. Collectively, our results suggest that climate is likely
to impact I. scapularis largely through its impact on the larval stage.
Primary data consists of known numbers of ticks of a given life stage
deployed in soil core enclosures (SCEs) and then the number recovered
alive at a later date. This includes all flat (unfed) tick life stages as
well as recently fed ticks molting (fed larvae and fed nymphs) or
producing offspring (fed adults). These survivorship and life history
transition data are paired with data on the daily ambient conditions
(temperature and vapor pressure deficit) averaged across the roughly
hourly readings of numerous iButton data loggers.
Data are in Excel format (xlsx or csv file types). Scripts are written in
Rmd files and require an instalation of Rstan.