The findings of a recent analysis suggest that ecosystems suitable for harboring ticks that carry debilitating Lyme disease could be more widespread than previously thought in California, Oregon and Washington.

Bolstering the research were the efforts of an army of «citizen scientists» who collected and submitted 18,881 ticks over nearly three years through the Free Tick Testing Program created by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, which funded the research, producing a wealth of data for scientists to analyze.

This new study builds on initial research led by the late Nate Nieto, Ph.D., at Northern Arizona University, and Daniel Salkeld, Ph.D., of Colorado State University.

This immense sample collection represented a multi-fold increase in the number of ticks that could be gathered by professional biologists conducting field surveys in far less time and at a fraction of the cost. This kind of citizen participation — which in the future could include smart-phone apps and photography — could become «a powerful tool» for tracking other animal- and insect-borne infectious diseases important for monitoring human and environmental health, according to study results published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

This study expands on previous work in California and is the first study to produce high resolution distributions of both actual and potential tick habitat in Oregon and Washington.

«This study is a great example of how citizen scientists can help — whether tracking climate change, fires, habitat changes or species distribution shifts — at a much finer scale than ever before,» said Tanner Porter, Ph.D., a TGen Research Associate and lead author of the study.

Story Source:
Materials provided by The Translational Genomics Research Institute. Original written by Steve Yozwiak. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.