Did you know that tick geographic ranges are expanding past their historical boundaries due to environmental changes? The Gulf Coast tick is found in the southeastern and southern midwestern United States and its range is expanding.
Fire can directly affect ticks by killing them or by changing their habitat and limiting their ability to find shelter or encounter hosts. Changes to the habitat can also change the behavior of tick hosts and predators.
A prescribed fire needs to be hotter than >392 degree F for longer than 2.5 seconds to kill all tick life stages. Ticks may seek refuge in the leaf litter of unburned patches and other moist places to escape the heat produced by these fires. There have been several studies that have shown that a single prescribed burn is insufficient to reduce tick populations. However, long-term repeated burning will in fact maintain low tick numbers.
With the use of prescribed fire, the habitat is changed. Fires can promote hotter and drier conditions which decreases the available shelter. These conditions can negatively impact eggs, nymphs, and larvae of ticks which need moist conditions to survive. Fires can also increase the populations of tick predators such as northern bobwhite quail and turkey.
If you are considering using prescribed fire to manage tick populations, consider what is known about the species, their habitats, and their hosts, and monitor the tick populations before and after fires to determine whether prescribed burning achieves your desired results.
For more information and the full study, click here!
Fill, J. M., Miller, H. M., & Crandall, R. M. (2023, September 25). FOR398/FR469: Prescribed fire as a tool for controlling tick populations in the Southeastern United States. Ask IFAS – Powered by EDIS. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FR469