McCullough, Christopher T.Angelella, Gina M.O'Rourke, Megan E.2020-09-282020-09-282020-09-09McCullough, C.; Angelella, G.; O’Rourke, M. Conservation Wildflower Plantings Do Not Enhance On-Farm Abundance of Amblyomma americanum (Ixodida: Ixodidae). Insects 2020, 11, 617.http://hdl.handle.net/10919/100085Planting wildflowers is a commonly suggested measure to conserve pollinators. While beneficial for pollinators, plots of wildflowers may be inadvertently performing an ecosystem disservice by providing a suitable habitat for arthropod disease vectors like ticks. The lone star tick, <i>Amblyomma americanum</i> (L.), is a medically important tick species that might be able to utilize wildflower plantings as a suitable habitat. In this two-year study, ticks were sampled using dry ice baited traps from wildflower plots, weedy field margins, and forested areas to determine if wildflower plantings were increasing the on-farm abundance of <i>A. americanum</i>. Abiotic and biotic environmental variables were also measured to better understand which factors affect <i>A. americanum</i> abundance. We found no more <i>A. americanum</i> in wildflower plots than in weedy field margins. Forested areas harbored the greatest number of <i>A. americanum</i> sampled. The height of the vegetation in the sampled habitats was a significant factor in determining <i>A. americanum</i> abundance. Depending on the sampled habitat and life stage, this relationship can be positive or negative. The relationship with vegetation height may be related to the behavior of the white-tailed deer and the questing success of <i>A. americanum</i>. Overall, wildflower plots do not pose an increased risk of exposure to <i>A. americanum</i> on farms.application/pdfenCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalpollinatortickecosystem servicesvector ecologyConservation Wildflower Plantings Do Not Enhance On-Farm Abundance of Amblyomma americanum (Ixodida: Ixodidae)Article - Refereed2020-09-25Insectshttps://doi.org/10.3390/insects11090617