ABSTRACT
Recent public inquiry regarding seasonal tick activity is fueled by a combination of increases in tickborne disease incidence as well as ample, yet often misguided, media coverage of new tick species, newly discovered pathogens, and rare human fatalities. This chapter introduces factors involved in landscape epidemiology of tickborne disease which can assist scientists and the public in understanding how emergence of tickborne disease occurs and can potentially be predicted and prevented. Landscape epidemiology describes how diseases are associated with particular attributes of the landscape that allow the vector, host, and pathogen to interact under a permissive climate. This chapter addresses seasonal differences in tick abundance, as well as what environmental alterations when combined with climate variables may influence changes in larger-scale tick ecology. Important to consider when assessing risk and evaluating landscape effects on tick populations and cycles of disease are both broad and species-specific aspects of tick biology, particularly tick survival, reproduction, and movement. Due to the complexities of tick and tickborne disease ecology, integrated tick management, including combining host-targeted and landscape modification approaches, offers the most effective strategies for tick management and disease prevention.
