Managing disease risk in tallgrass prairies: A new frontier

Tick-borne diseases severely threaten public health and safety, accounting for over 75% of all vector-borne diseases in the US, with approximately 40,000-60,000 cases reported annually. This number is expected to rise due to climate-induced expansion of tick habitats, increasing human exposure. In addition, in the Central Midwest, there have been increasing efforts to tall grass prairie, which can result in increased human contact with these disease-transmitting vectors. The influence of management techniques and short-term weather patterns on the pathogens that ticks carry is largely unknown. Therefore, we aim to examine the interaction between prairie management strategies, climate, ticks, and the pathogens they vector in Missouri's tallgrass prairies. We use five years of data collected from two prairies in Callaway County, Missouri, where tick dragging was conducted weekly from May through September. We identified ticks, performed DNA extraction, and then identified bacterial pathogens to the genus level using 16S amplicons. We then use weather data, including temperature, precipitation, humidity, vapor pressure, and drought index, to assess whether climate factors influence infection prevalence and density of infectious ticks. Results from this study can help land managers develop strategies to mitigate public health risks associated with increasing tick encounters due to habitat restoration and climate change. Understanding how abiotic factors like temperature and humidity affect ticks and tick-borne diseases could provide insights into how climate change might alter disease risk in prairie systems and allow for the adaption of disease prevention strategies to changing environmental conditions.