Welcome to TickMap !

TickMap is a product of the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit based in the Smithsonian Institution (see link for WRBU above). TickMap (see graphic to the left) is a geospatially referenced clearinghouse for tick disease vector species collection records and distribution models within VectorMap (see link for VectorMap above). Users can pan and zoom to anywhere in the world to view the locations of past tick collections and the results of modeling that predicts the geographic extent of individual species. Collection records are searchable and downloadable, users can map and contribute their own georeferenced collection data or distribution models, and all contributions have full attribution. Currently, TickMap has 55,819 records.

TickMap is designed to preserve and make available the results of past collecting and distribution modeling activity. The utility of TickMap will increase as more records and models are added. Contributions are encouraged, especially from individuals and organizations with digitized, georeferenced records and those involved in ongoing mosquito surveillance. TickMap is modeled on MosquitoMap - see International Journal of Health Geographics.

• TickMap is useful for:

• • informing decisions about where tick collection efforts should be directed
  • identifying areas relevant to the study of tick biogeography, evolution and biodiversity
  • allow predictions about the potential spread of exotic tick introductions
  • allow predictions about the potential effects of global warming on tick distributions
  • allow insights into tick community structure, and environmental and climatic correlates to species occurrence (ecological niche)
  • allow continent-wide rather than just local studies of vector-borne disease
  • identifying cryptic evolutionary lineages that differ in geographic or ecological space.

The Mal-area calculator

A novel enhancement of TickMap is the Mal-area calculator (MAC) that quantifies the overlap between vector and pathogen distribution models, and host (human) population. The co-occurrence of vectors, parasites and hosts are required for many vector-borne diseases, and the MAC quantifies this co-occurrence for a given area, thus potentially providing a map and simple index of disease risk for any area of interest. At the moment the MAC is at the 'proof of concept' stage, but we plan to roll out an operational version in the near future!

OPEN DATA PORTAL PAGE

WHAT"S NEW?

• 20 July 2010. Updated collection form which now includes the Mapper and the species list according to Guglielmone et al. (2010). Zootaxa 2528: 1-28
• 29 Oct 2010. New Collection form (under contribute tab above) with drop-down scientific and common names to mammal, reptile and bird hosts
• 19 Apr 2011. Connection to Silverlight version of TickMap established. Added almost 37,000 tick records for Africa from the literature care of G. Cumming. Also, ticks for Georgia (care of John Lee) and Turkey (care of Saban Tekin). Collection form updated for host name information
• 2 June 2011. Added tick collections for Syria, FAO layers for Cattle and Buffalo density, and an updated collection form
• 5 July 2011. Added images of tick distribution in Africa (care of G. Cumming), new records for USA, and added data fields.
• 26 July 2011. Added records for North America, including from Cooley & Kohls (1944). Additional data fields for identification confidence. Updated collection form.
• 19 Oct 2011. Transition to new server.
• 7 Mar 2012. New country layer with hyperlinks to information on vector ecology and human health. New tick distribution models for the Palearctic, North America, and South American regions
• 30 Apr 2012. New collection forms featuring: separate essential information fields, linked vector and pathogen sheets, dependent drop-down lists, and hyperlinks for mapping and error checking locality information. Records from U.S. Army Institute of Public Health's "Human Tick Test Kit Program", 1995-2010

Funding for TickMap was provided by the US Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System(DoD-GEIS), a Division of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, and from the Global Biodiversity Information System (GBIF). Comments and questions should be directed to Desmond Foley, Pollie Rueda, Richard Wilkerson or MAJ 'Scotty' Long.