Current invasive species research being conducted at MSU
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Project 9

Project Title: Elucidating the invasion of blacklegged ticks and changing risk of tick-borne disease to humans and canines in the Midwest
Investigators:  Sarah A. Hamer, Pamela L. Roy, Graham J. Hickling, Edward D. Walker, Jean I. Tsao                 
Contact: Sarah Hamer (hamer@msu.edu)

Abstract:
Ixodes scapularis, the blacklegged tick, is the predominant vector of reportable human vector-borne disease in the United States. It transmits agents that cause Lyme borreliosis, human anaplasmosis, and human babesiosis. I. scapularis–borne disease is becoming more frequent as this tick expands its range from tick-endemic foci in the northeastern and upper midwestern United States. Despite Michigan’s proximity to large tick-endemic areas (Wisconsin and Minnesota to the west and Indiana to the south), active and passive surveillance indicated that the only populations of I. scapularis established in the state before 2002 were in Menominee County in the Upper Peninsula. In 2002–2003, however, wildlife sampling and tick dragging suggested that I. scapularis had begun to invade southwestern Michigan, with nearby populations in northwestern Indiana as the putative source.
To elucidate this invasion process for assessment of the changing risk of tick-borne disease to humans and canines, we have been engaged in complementary studies of the ticks.  We are interested in determining the mechanisms of invasion (migratory birds versus deer movement of ticks to new areas) as well as tracking the invasion molecularly by quantifying the genetic diversity of pathogens within ticks along their continuum of endemicity in the Midwest.

For more information:
Jean Tsao (www.fw.msu.edu/~tsao)
Graham J. Hickling (http://wildlifehealth.tennessee.edu)
Edward D. Walker (http://mmg.msu.edu/faculty/walker.htm)