Exploring the Effects of Prescribed Fire on Tick Spread and Propagation in a Spatial Setting

Abstract

Lyme disease is one of the most prominent tick-borne diseases in the United States, and prevalence of the disease has been steadily increasing over the past several decades due to a number of factors, including climate change. Methods for control of the disease have been considered, one of which is prescribed burning. In this paper, the effects of prescribed burns on the abundance of ticks present in a spatial domain are assessed. A spatial stage-structured tick-host model with an impulsive differential equation system is developed to simulate the effect that controlled burning has on tick populations. Subsequently, a global sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the effect of various model parameters on the prevalence of infectious nymphs. Results indicate that while ticks can recover relatively quickly following a burn, yearly, high-intensity prescribed burns can reduce the prevalence of ticks in and around the area that is burned. The use of prescribed burns in preventing the establishment of ticks into new areas is also explored, and it is observed that frequent burning can slow establishment considerably.

Assessing the Influence of Climate Change and Environmental Factors on the Top Tick-Borne Diseases in the United States: A Systematic Review

“…One of the main findings of this study was that yearly high-intensity fires were significantly more effective than yearly low-intensity fires. This strategy was also found to slow down the establishment of ticks in new areas [ 59 ]. Conversely, another study conducted in West Central Illinois found that the number of ticks collected at all life stages did not differ among burn treatments, which indicates the limited effect of low-intensity burning.…”

Effects of rising temperature and prescribed fire on Amblyomma Americanum with ehrlichiosis

“…al. [25] extended the model from [24] to a system of partial differential equations in order to determine how the effects of a spatial setting alter the effectiveness of prescribed burns. There, we found that a crucial determinant of the effectiveness of a prescribed burn was the size of the burn being performed.…”

“…We also see that few infectious questing adult ticks are able to survive the burns, further indicating that timing a burn during times of the year when this life stage is most active may be effective at further slowing the establishment of these ticks. Eradication of ticks from an area using prescribed burning alone likely is not possible [25], thus additional control measures should be implemented in conjunction with prescribed burning if the goal is eradication of ticks. Four prescribed burns is an unsustainable number to perform on an annual basis, but it is extremely effective for an initial reduction in tick populations in both endemic and invasion scenarios.…”

“…As far as we know, there have been two approaches used thus far to model tick populations and the effects of prescribed burning on those ticks [24, 25]. The first by Guo and Agusto [24] evaluated the effectiveness of high- and low-intensity prescribed burning as the duration between burns increases via an impulsive system of ordinary differential equations.…”

“…Construction and analysis of the dynamics of mathematical models via numerical simulations allow for insights into complex situations that are difficult or impossible to simulate experimentally. Recent modeling efforts have provided further support to the effectiveness of prescribed burning as a control measure for Ixodes scapularis ticks [24, 25]. In addition, Wallace et.…”