Life stages of the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis)

 Male and female - active from late fall through spring.

Nymphs - active in late spring through summer

 Larvae - active mid to late summer

Engorged female with egg mass laid in winter.  Eggs hatch mid-summer.

Female and male on a deer - only females become engorged.

"Dragging" to collect host-seeking ticks from vegetation

Lyme gradients in the Appalachians?

University of Tennessee MS student Janetta Kelly has joined the team, and will be comparing levels of Borrelia burgdorferi infection in blacklegged ticks along the eastern vs western foothills of the southern Appalachians.

Our first field trip to Manchester KY produced blacklegged ticks on all the transects we dragged.