Management of lone star ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in recreational areas with acaricide applications, vegetative management, and exclusion of white-tailed deer.
A project on management of lone star ticks, Amblyomma americanum (L.), at Land Between the Lakes, a Tennessee Valley Authority recreational area in Kentucky-Tennessee, during 1984-1988, demonstrated the effectiveness and economics of three control technologies. Acaricide applications (chlorpyrifos at 0.28 kg [AI]/ha), vegetative management (mowing and removal of 40% overstory and 90-100% of midstory, understory, and leaf litter), and host management (white-tailed deer exclusion from a 71-ha campground with a single-line fence) provided 75, 70, and 64% mean controls of all life stages of the lone star tick, respectively. Combinations of acaricide applications + vegetative management, acaricide applications + host management, and acaricide applications + vegetative management + host management produced 94, 89, and 96% mean control of all life stages, respectively. The costs of acaricide applications (two per year), vegetative management (two mowings per year), and white-tailed deer exclusion (single-line fence) were $45, $150, and $30/ha/yr, respectively. Results of this project are used to design management strategies that could be considered for use against lone star ticks in recreational areas.
Recreation Resources Branch, Tennessee Valley Authority, Golden Pond, Kentucky 42211.
S R
SR
Bloemer
G A
GA
Mount
T A
TA
Morris
R H
RH
Zimmerman
D R
DR
Barnard
E L
EL
Snoddy
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors; D004390:Chlorpyrifos; D003670:Deer; D007629:Kentucky; D013714:Tennessee; D013983:Tick Control / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D013987:Ticks
D004390:Chlorpyrifos