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24 March 2022 Supplemental feeding of deer reduces tick abundance in Mississippi, U.S.A.
M.H.J. Huang, S. Demarais, B.K. Strickland, W.C. Brookshire, J.G. Chandler, R.A. Butler, R.T. Trout Fryxell
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Abstract

Prior research on baiting and feeding of wildlife found changes in habitat and the concentration of wildlife on a local scale (e.g., hundreds of meters). Since changes in habitat and host density affect ticks, feeding wildlife may lead to changes in tick and tick-borne disease ecology. We quantified the effect of feeding deer on ticks and tick-borne diseases at 79 pairs of sites with and without deer feeders during May-August of 2019 and 2020. We captured 0.4 fewer adult (p<0.05) and 1.2 fewer nymphal ticks (p=0.01) at feeder sites. This effect intensified over time with one fewer tick trapped at old feeders (≥5 years) compared to new feeders (<5 years, p<0.05). Greater daily wildlife visitation rates (p<0.001) may have allowed questing ticks to encounter hosts more readily. Most collected ticks were Amblyomma americanum (92.8%), a vector of Ehrlichia and Rickettsia pathogens, though prevalence of these pathogens did not differ (p>0.13) at a local scale. Supplemental deer feeding appears to influence ticks, possibly due to decreased tick habitat and increased wildlife use around feeders. Our findings indicate feeding does not lead to increased prevalence of Ehrlichia or Rickettsia bacteria within A. americanum locally.

M.H.J. Huang, S. Demarais, B.K. Strickland, W.C. Brookshire, J.G. Chandler, R.A. Butler, and R.T. Trout Fryxell "Supplemental feeding of deer reduces tick abundance in Mississippi, U.S.A.," Journal of Vector Ecology 47(1), 29-37, (24 March 2022). https://doi.org/10.52707/1081-1710-47.1.29
Received: 9 September 2021; Accepted: 7 January 2022; Published: 24 March 2022
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KEYWORDS
deer
Ehrlichia
Rickettsia
supplemental feeding
ticks
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