Hastings natural history reserve is an ideal study site to conduct field research involving small mammal trapping, lizard noosing, and tick drop-off experiments. In previous field seasons, the Swei lab has removed feeding ticks with forceps before completion of their blood meal on S. occidentalis. Allowing ticks to complete their full feeding cycle will reduce tick mortality while also mimicking the natural life cycle for a more accurate follow-up experiment. A tick drop-off experiment would allow ticks to become fully engorged during their blood meal on S. occidentalis and Peromyscus spp. During my tick drop off experiment, I will noose lizards in the field and keep them in wire cages for 3-4 days, so the feeding larval ticks can complete a full feeding cycle. Once they are fully engorged, they naturally fall off. Underneath the wired cage will be a bin that will catch the engorged ticks which would then be preserved in a desiccator allowing them to stay alive until they molt into nymphs. The rest of the experiment will be conducted at San Francisco State where I will take ticks with different larval host blood meals (e.g. lizards and mice) and subsequently feed them on infected laboratory mice in our animal facilities.

Approved