Launch of a study on island ticks | Island sounder

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Submitted by Kwiaht.

The Lopez-based conservation biology laboratory, Kwiaht, has launched a two-year study on the distribution and hosts of local ticks, and the diseases they can spread to island wildlife as well as to humans. The San Juan Island Community Foundation will help defray the cost of the tests.

Relatively little is known about the ecology or pathogens of ticks in San Juan County; ticks have never been collected or tested systematically. Ticks have not historically been abundant in the San Juan Islands, and it remains unclear if anyone has contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite here. However, that is likely to change in the near future, said Kwiaht manager Russel Barsh, increasing the risk to humans and livestock, pets and local wildlife.

“Climate change is helping ticks to thrive and spread across North America, bringing with them tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease,” Barsh said. “Finding out which habitats and animal species are most important to the tick life cycle on islands will be crucial in responding effectively to this growing risk. “

Ticks have complex life histories and can feed on several different host species before they become fully mature and reproduce, sharing different pathogens and diseases at each stage. Their impact can be widely felt in ecosystems where they are abundant. At least twenty wildlife diseases have been attributed to tick-borne pathogens such as Borelia, which causes Lyme disease in human hosts.

The widely distributed western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus) has been documented to feed on not only humans and other mammals, including domestic animals and livestock, as well as wildlife such as rodents , deer, foxes and raccoons, but also birds, reptiles and raccoons. amphibians throughout its Pacific coastal range. Some of the recent tick detections in the San Juan and Gulf Islands were in alligator lizards, which appear to have developed countermeasures against Borelia. But reliable records are scarce, and very few ticks found on the islands have been genetically tested for traces of pathogens.

Kwiaht invites all islanders to participate in the study by checking themselves, their pets, and any livestock they may have for ticks. Hunters are also advised to look for ticks on deer, rabbits and game birds. “Pack them up and contact Kwiaht for pickup.” Kept dry and cool, a tick specimen remains useful for several weeks or more. Kwiaht is also in partnership with the Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, so if you find an injured animal and bring it to Wolf Hollow, it will be checked for ticks to be included in this study.

The best way to report your tick to Kwiaht is to email [email protected]. Ticks will be identified and tested for pathogens in cooperation with the Northeast Wildlife DNA Laboratory in Pennsylvania. A preliminary report and map of tick and host species locations will be made public by May 2022.

Barsh notes that island deer are frequently infested with parasitic deer flies or “keds” (Lipoptera cervi) which superficially resemble ticks but, like all insects, have six legs instead of eight. Deer flies can also harbor Borelia, but the risk to humans is unknown.

“We still don’t know a lot about the links between human health and wildlife health,” Barsh said.

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