Environmental Drivers of Questing Activity of Juvenile Black-Legged Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae): Temperature, Desiccation Risk, and Diel Cycles.

Vector feeding behavior can have a profound influence on the transmission of vector-borne diseases. In the case of black-legged ticks, Ixodes scapularis Say, which vectors the agents of Lyme disease, babesiosis, and other pathogens, the timing and propensity of questing can determine which hosts are fed upon as well as the risk of contact with humans. Yet we know little about the controls and constraints on tick host-finding behavior under natural conditions.