{"id":6761,"date":"2025-01-30T10:19:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T15:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/?p=6761"},"modified":"2025-02-11T15:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T20:02:09","slug":"umaine-seeks-to-thwart-ticks-by-helping-landowners-weed-out-invasive-forest-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/2025\/01\/30\/umaine-seeks-to-thwart-ticks-by-helping-landowners-weed-out-invasive-forest-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"UMaine seeks to thwart ticks by helping landowners weed out invasive forest plants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ask anyone who frequents the forests of New England and they will likely speak of unwelcome companions \u2014 ticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blacklegged ticks are expanding their range and rising in numbers, infecting people with pathogens that cause conditions like Lyme disease and babesiosis. Climate change is frequently blamed, but researchers have noticed another man-made problem may be helping the pests spread. Invasive forest plants like buckthorn, honeysuckles and Japanese barberry create dense, damp thickets where surveys show ticks love to lurk.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With a new opportunity to turn the tide on ticks in sight, three University of Maine researchers secured a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/showAward?AWD_ID=2408904&amp;HistoricalAwards=false\">$1.8 million grant<\/a> from the National Science Foundation to test if controlling unwelcome forest plants also reduces densities of ticks, and how landowners can best apply and share that information. Graduate and undergraduate student researchers will be recruited to support the project.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Landowners \u2014 whether suburban homeowners or small woodland owners \u2014 make choices about how to manage invasive plants and ticks, but typically address them separately. Forest ecosystems are complex and continually change, making the best strategies for managing these challenges feel elusive. To help landowners, the project will develop actionable recommendations on forest management as well as best practices for sharing that information, and establish a network for spreading these ideas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis research uses the connection between human health and our environment to combat multiple issues simultaneously,\u201d said Allison Gardner, an associate professor and medical entomologist at UMaine who is one of the project\u2019s principal investigators. \u201cBy developing actionable strategies to help landowners target invasive plants, we can also reduce habitats where ticks thrive and tick-borne diseases spread \u2014 a win-win for people and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project unites Gardner\u2019s entomology expertise with social, behavioral and environmental scientists, enabling them to seamlessly translate field research into change in the forest. Other principal investigators include UMaine professors Jessica Leahy, a human dimensions of natural resources scholar and forester, and Timothy Waring, an evolutionary and behavioral scientist; as well as William Landesman, an associate professor who studies microbiology and tick-borne pathogens, and Kristen Ross, a plant and restoration ecologist and assistant professor; both of Vermont State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne problem is that it\u2019s hard, even for scientists, to figure out the best approach. So there\u2019s no guarantee that landowners are going to learn effective solutions either. We will study how landowners learn forest management practices from one another with an eye to finding and spreading these win-win approaches,\u201d said Waring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The five-year study will survey tick densities and test management techniques in Maine and Vermont. Researchers will also explore how landowners manage their woods for both ticks and invasive plants, and how they learn \u2014 or fail to learn \u2014 best practices from each other. They will then take what they learned and teach landowners grappling with the unwelcome duo best practices for simultaneously managing invasive plants and ticks. The project will foster further dissemination of this research by establishing a peer-to-peer outreach program called Forest Landowner Education &amp; Research Network (Forest LEARN). Forest LEARN will equip landowners as ambassadors for science so they can share best practices for invasive plant and tick management with their neighbors and communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Private and public land managers who wish to contribute to the tick-forest research or join the LEARN network should email jessica.leahy@maine.edu. The Forest LEARN program will provide tailored training and resources to empower landowners to manage their woodlands more effectively and share strategies with their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is more than a research project \u2014 it\u2019s a community effort to create healthier landscapes and protect Maine\u2019s residents,\u201d said Leahy. \u201cBy collaborating with landowners and developing peer networks, we\u2019re building the capacity for Maine to thrive in the face of emerging challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contact: Erin Miller, <a href=\"mailto:erin.miller@maine.edu\">erin.miller@maine.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ask anyone who frequents the forests of New England and they will likely speak of unwelcome companions \u2014 ticks. Blacklegged ticks are expanding their range and rising in numbers, infecting people with pathogens that cause conditions like Lyme disease and babesiosis. Climate change is frequently blamed, but researchers have noticed another man-made problem may be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2406,"featured_media":6764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[57,52,92,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-forest-resources","category-insects","category-recreation-and-land-use","category-wildlife"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":57,"label":"Forest Resources"},{"value":52,"label":"Insects"},{"value":92,"label":"Recreation and Land Use"},{"value":59,"label":"Wildlife"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2025\/01\/101019_HH_DSC_1305-e1736543191498-1024x577.jpg",1024,577,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"lhecker","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/author\/lhecker\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":57,"name":"Forest Resources","slug":"forest-resources","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":57,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":37,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":57,"category_count":37,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Forest Resources","category_nicename":"forest-resources","category_parent":44},{"term_id":52,"name":"Insects","slug":"insects","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":52,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":15,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":52,"category_count":15,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Insects","category_nicename":"insects","category_parent":44},{"term_id":92,"name":"Recreation and Land Use","slug":"recreation-and-land-use","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":92,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":17,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":92,"category_count":17,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Recreation and Land Use","category_nicename":"recreation-and-land-use","category_parent":44},{"term_id":59,"name":"Wildlife","slug":"wildlife","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":59,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":30,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":59,"category_count":30,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Wildlife","category_nicename":"wildlife","category_parent":44}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6765,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761\/revisions\/6765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}