What is this project?
Adrianna George is a senior Animal Science student at the University of New Hampshire, and is in the process of completing her Senior Thesis Capstone. Between the months of September-October, she is collecting ticks from Odiorne Point State Park to characterize their feeding ecology and pathogen carriage.
Fundamentally, she wants to see what bacterial pathogens are present in the park's ticks, and what furry hosts they have been feeding on!
How can you help?
Tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, are on the rise, with New England being an epicenter for disease. It is important to do surveys of popular areas to understand how prevalent the pathogens (disease-causing agents) are, so public health officials and citizens like you can stay informed! Data collection for projects like this relies on citizen science participation to move forward. Without it, we wouldn't have any specimens to test!
If you find a tick while in Odiorne Point State Park, follow these steps to submit it for research:
- Remove it carefully (if embedded). Follow the steps in the following image for safe removal. Try to make sure the tick is as whole as possible (including the head) when removed!
- Bring it to the tick collection box in the entrance of the Seacoast Science Center Building. If you aren't sure where this is, ask park staff or a SSC naturalist - they will be happy to point you in the correct direction!
- Put the tick in a small plastic bag, write the date, seal the bag, and drop it into the box. Make sure the bag is sealed tight so it doesn't escape!
You're all set! Thank you for your contribution. Stay tuned with the Current Data page to see how the project is progressing!
*10/27/25 - Tick collection has concluded! Thank you all for your contributions. See Current Data for preliminary results!
CDC Ticks
Current data
Click here to see consistently updated progress, such as tick counter and preliminary results!
Learn about the lab!
Adrianna is a student in the Microbial Ecology and Emerging Diseases laboratory (MEED), which works closely with the Hubbard Center for Genome Studies, at the University of New Hampshire. Learn more about the both of the labs and their work here:
Want to learn more?
Visit these sites to learn more about ticks and how they are important for understanding disease and New England ecology.