Tick and Tick-Borne Pathogen Sampling
Tick sampling is used to quantify spatio-temporal changes in the abundance of ticks at NEON sites and to look at the prevalence of infection by associated tick-borne pathogens.  Sampling focuses on the hard ticks (family Ixodidae), specifically the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis), western blacklegged tick (I. pacificus), lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum), gulf coast tick (A. maculatum), Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), and American dog tick (D. variabilis).  Tick and tick-borne pathogen sampling at SRER involves the collection of ticks using drag sampling.  A team of two technicians slowly pulls a weighted drag cloth over ground vegetation located along the perimeter of Tick Plots (n = 6).  Bouts occur every three to six weeks annually between March and December.  Adult, nymphal, and larval stages are collected and sent out to external lab facilities for pathogen testing.  Pathogen testing include “next-gen” sequencing using 16S primers to detect bacterial pathogens (e.g., genera Borrelia, Anaplasma, Francisella, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia).