Collaborative Modeling of the Tick-Borne Disease Social-Ecological System: A Conceptual Framework.

Hard-bodied ticks have become a major concern in temperate regions because they transmit a variety of pathogens of medical significance. Ticks and pathogens interact with hosts in a complex social-ecological system (SES) that influences human exposure to tick-borne diseases (TBD). We argue that addressing the urgent public health threat posed by TBD requires an understanding of the integrated processes in the forest ecosystem that influence tick density and infection prevalence, transmission among ticks, animal hosts, and ultimately disease prevalence in humans.

A citizen science approach to investigate the distribution, abundance, and pathogen infection of vector ticks through active surveillance.

Tick-borne disease poses a growing public health burden in the United States and understanding the patterns of presence and density of infected vector ticks is key to developing and implementing effective public health management strategies. Citizen science has emerged as a highly effective means to generate data sets on the geographical distribution of tick species. But to date, nearly all citizen science studies of ticks are 'passive surveillance' programs in which researchers accept reports of ticks, together with either physical specimens or digital images, found opportunistically on people, pets, and livestock from community members for species identification and in some cases also tick-borne pathogen detection.

Perceived vulnerability for Lyme disease questionnaire: A social science tool for understanding tick-borne disease attitudes.

Lyme disease has emerged as a growing epidemic across the U.S., with tick populations spreading north because of a plethora of human-induced factors.

Active Forest Management Reduces Blacklegged Tick and Tick-Borne Pathogen Exposure Risk.

In the northeastern USA, active forest management can include timber harvests designed to meet silvicultural objectives (i.e., harvesting trees that meet certain maturity, height, age, or quality criteria).

Linking Attitudes, Policy, and Forest Cover Change in Buffer Zone Communities of Chitwan National Park, Nepal.

Deforestation in Nepal threatens the functioning of complex social-ecological systems, including rural populations that depend on forests for subsistence, as well as Nepal's biodiversity and other ecosystem services. Nepal's forests are particularly important to the nation's poorest inhabitants, as many depend upon them for daily survival. Two-thirds of Nepal's population relies on forests for sustenance, and these pressures are likely to increase in the future.

An Agent-Based Model of Private Woodland Owner Management Behavior Using Social Interactions, Information Flow, and Peer-To-Peer Networks.

Privately owned woodlands are an important source of timber and ecosystem services in North America and worldwide. Impacts of management on these ecosystems and timber supply from these woodlands are difficult to estimate because complex behavioral theory informs the owner's management decisions. The decision-making environment consists of exogenous market factors, internal cognitive processes, and social interactions with fellow landowners, foresters, and other rural community members.

Parks promoting physical activity: synthesis of findings from interventions in seven national parks.

Background: We synthesized the results of 7 National Park Service pilot interventions designed to increase awareness of the health benefits from participation in recreation at national parks and to increase physical activity by park visitors.

Methods: A content analysis was conducted of the final evaluation reports of the 7 participating parks. Pooled data were also analyzed from a standardized trail-intercept survey administered in 3 parks.

Social capital in an outdoor recreation context.

This study examined social capital development in three all-terrain vehicles (ATV) clubs in Maine using an adapted version of Lin's (2001) social capital theory model. The structural components of social capital identified included collective assets and individual assets in the form of normative behavior and trust relationships. Also identified were counter-norms for individual ATV riders identified as having divergent norms from club members.