Effects of prescribed burns on tick-host relationships and associated pathogens in Pennsylvania

Lyme disease is the most prevalent tickborne illness contracted in the northeast United States, caused by the bacterial pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. Forest burns have been suggested as a method for largescale control of the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis), the vector of B. burgdorferi. However, the interaction between ticks and pathogen reservoirs, such as white-footed mice, in this environment has been ignored, despite the description of the effect of prescribed burns on free-living ticks in the Northeast. For this study, white-footed mice were trapped in three Pennsylvania forests across 16 plots (8 burned from 2019, 2020, and 2022 and 8 non-burned references). blood, tissue, and ticks were collected from the captured rodents, as well as counting the number of ticks that were attached. Samples were tested for tick-borne pathogens. No significant differences were found between pathogen prevalence across the plots, except for B. burgdorferi prevalence in ticks across burned and reference plots from 2019 and 2020 burns, with treatment plots having a higher prevalence. A mixed effect negative binomial model was also constructed to determine factors influencing tick burdens on mice. Burned plots were found to have significantly lower tick burdens, and this effect was significantly stronger for burns occurring within the same year. This has management implications for large landscape-wide tick and tickborne pathogen control.