{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T12:15:39Z","timestamp":1787314539880,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,17]],"date-time":"2024-09-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1726531200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Martha\u2019s Vineyard Community Health Initiative of Martha\u2019s Vineyard Hospital","award":["01CK000661"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01CK000661"]}]},{"name":"Inter-Island Public Health Excellence Collaborative funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health","award":["01CK000661"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01CK000661"]}]},{"name":"Laboratory of Medical Zoology (LMZ) at UMass-Amherst","award":["01CK000661"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01CK000661"]}]},{"name":"New England Regional Center of Vector-borne Diseases","award":["01CK000661"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01CK000661"]}]},{"name":"Emeritus Academy of Ohio State University","award":["01CK000661"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01CK000661"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Insects"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In the northeastern USA, the distribution of lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum) has expanded northward in recent decades, overlapping with the range of blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis). Blacklegged ticks carry pathogens for diseases such as Lyme, babesiosis, and anaplasmosis, while bites from lone star ticks cause other diseases and the alpha-gal syndrome allergy. Lone star ticks can become so abundant that they are perceived as more of a public health threat than blacklegged ticks. Using the island of Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Massachusetts, as a case study, we analyzed data from a total of 1265 yard surveys from 2011 to 2024 to document lone star tick presence and subsequent expansion from two peripheral areas, Chappaquiddick and Aquinnah, to all six towns. The timing of lone star tick expansion on Martha\u2019s Vineyard closely matched an increase in tick submissions to a pathogen testing center. At Chappaquiddick, drag sampling carried out in June 2023 and 2024 showed that both tick species were most common at wooded sites, where blacklegged nymphs were somewhat more abundant than lone star nymphs. However, lone star ticks occurred in a wider range of natural and peridomestic habitats than blacklegged nymphs, making them far more challenging for people to avoid and manage.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/insects15090709","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,18]],"date-time":"2024-09-18T01:16:10Z","timestamp":1726622170000},"page":"709","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["The Spread of Lone Star Ticks (Amblyomma americanum) and Persistence of Blacklegged Ticks (Ixodes scapularis) on a Coastal Island in Massachusetts, USA"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Richard W.","family":"Johnson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Martha\u2019s Vineyard Tick-Borne Illness Reduction Initiative, Edgartown, MA 02539, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1087-1817","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patrick","family":"Roden-Reynolds","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Martha\u2019s Vineyard Tick-Borne Illness Reduction Initiative, Edgartown, MA 02539, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8817-0749","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Allison A.","family":"Snow","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA"},{"name":"Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA"},{"name":"Laboratory of Medical Zoology, Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7175-6380","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stephen M.","family":"Rich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Medical Zoology, Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"295","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pt.2017.12.006","article-title":"The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis: An increasing public health concern","volume":"34","author":"Eisen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Trends. 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