<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>Carl P. Qualls</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>Joshua R. Ennen</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2011</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The distribution of the gopher tortoise tick (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;Amblyomma tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;) has been considered intrinsically linked to the distribution of its primary host, gopher tortoises (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;Gopherus polyphemus&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;). However, the presence of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;G. polyphemus&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;does not always equate to the presence of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;A. tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;. There is a paucity of data on the ecology, habitat preferences, and distribution of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;A. tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;. The goals of this study were to assess the distribution of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;A. tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;in southern Mississippi and to determine which, if any, habitat parameters explain the distribution pattern of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;A. tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;. During 2006–2007, we examined 13&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;G. polyphemus&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;populations in southern Mississippi for the presence of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;A. tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, and we measured a suite of habitat parameters at each site. Only 23% of the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;G. polyphemus&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;populations supported&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;A. tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, suggesting a more restricted distribution than its host. The results of our multivariate analyses identified several habitat variables, e.g., depth of sand and percentage of sand in the topsoil and burrow apron, as being important in discriminating between sites with, and without,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;A. tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;Amblyomma tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;was only found at sites with a mean sand depth of &amp;gt;100&amp;nbsp;cm and a mean percentage of topsoil and burrow apron sand composition &amp;gt;94.0 and 92.4, respectively. Thus, environmental factors, and not just its host's range, seem to influence the distribution of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="genus-species"&gt;A. tuberculatum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1645/GE-2599.1</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>American Society of Parasitologists</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Distribution and habitat utilization of the gopher tortoise tick (Amblyomma tuberculatum) in southern Mississippi</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>