Preliminary Observations on Controlled Burning for Lone Star Tick (Acarina: Ixodidae) Control in Woodlots1

Preliminary investigations on controlled burning for the manipulation of lone star tick populations were conducted in oak-hickory woodlots in eastern Oklahoma. In 2 burned plots, more than 70% of the leaf litter had been consumed by fire while only 19.4% and 1% of duff was destroyed. Due to the protection provided by the intact duff, 65.5% and 33.4% of marked and released ticks in the 2 burned areas survived. Large numbers of indigenous ticks were collected in the burned areas following treatment. Many caged ticks in the vicinity of the soil survived the controlled burn. Temperatures were measured at various depths in the surface fuel and it was found that temperatures during a burn generally did not exceed 58°C at soil surface, and the temperatures reached 60°C and above at the duff and leaf litter interface.