Vegetation richness, diversity, and structure influence arthropod communities of native and restored northern mixed‐prairies

Detection of Amblyomma maculatum and Rickettsia parkeri in prairies of Central Missouri

The destruction and decline of prairie habitats due to landscape repurposing have profoundly impacted the diversity of plant, animal, and insect life. In the Central United States, the reconstruction of prairie habitats from farmland is a widely applied strategy to raise diversity and recreate a healthy, complex ecosystem. In Central Missouri, we examine the consequences of reconstruction efforts on the prevalence of zoonotic diseases and their associated pathogens by performing tick-flagging at two prairie sites. In doing so, we have observed large populations of Dog ticks, Dermacentor variabilis, and Lone Star ticks, Amblyomma americanum, as well as the first recorded instance of the Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum, in Callaway County. The Gulf Coast tick is traditionally found mainly along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions but has been undergoing geographic expansion in the last decade. Since detection in 2020, the number of Gulf Coast ticks has increased. Upon screening 193 Gulf Coast ticks in 105 pools via PCR, we found that 6.67 % of ticks were positive for pathogenic Rickettsia parkeri, which causes spotted fever rickettsiosis in animals and humans, with most ticks coming from the reconstructed prairie site. These observations suggest that reconstruction of prairie habitat has the potential to support the sylvatic cycle of Rickettsia parkeri. Collectively, our observations show that the reconstructed prairie are capable of harboring large tick populations as compared to remnant prairies and demonstrates a potential increase in disease risk as a result. This works highlights the importance of proactive surveillance of ticks, especially with land-use change.

Relative effects of seed mix design, consumer pressure, and edge proximity on community structure in restored prairies

A central goal of ecosystem restoration is to promote diverse, native-dominated plant communities. However, restoration outcomes can be highly variable. One cause of this variation may be the decisions made during the seed mix design process, such as choosing the number of species to include (sown diversity) or the number of locations each species should be sourced from (source diversity, manipulated to affect genetic diversity). The effects that seed mixes have on plant communities may be further modified by other factors at the restoration site, including edge proximity and consumer pressure. Few studies have evaluated both these seed mix attributes together, and none have done so while accounting for realistic restoration site attributes. To address this research need, we conducted a prairie restoration experiment where two aspects of seed mix design (sown diversity and source diversity) and two restoration site factors (edge proximity and vertebrate granivore/herbivore consumer access) were manipulated across 12 replicate fields. We found that when seed mix design impacted plant community structure, these effects were dependent on consumer access or edge proximity and were more prominent after one versus five growing seasons. Low seed source diversity plots had more sown species than high source diversity ones, but only when consumers had access. Similarly, low species diversity plots had higher richness and cover of species included in both the low and high species diversity mixes, but this effect weakened over time. Additionally, plots with high species diversity were buffered from the typically detrimental effects of edges and consumers, although this did not always result in greater sown species abundance. Unexpectedly, plots with the most sown species were those sown with either low source diversity or low species diversity seed mixes, perhaps due to lower seeding rates of reliably establishing species. Our results illustrate how the influences of seed mix design on restored plant communities can be highly contingent on factors like edges, consumers, and time.

WITHDRAWN: Detection of Amblyomma maculatum and Rickettsia parkeri in prairies of Central Missouri

This article has been withdrawn: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/article-withdrawal). This article has been withdrawn at the request of the editor and publisher. The publisher regrets that an error occurred which led to the premature publication of this paper. This error bears no reflection on the article or its authors. The publisher apologizes to the authors and the readers for this unfortunate error.