Ticks can’t fly or jump. Yet in Arizona, they wreak all sorts of havoc.
The brown dog tick, which thrives in hot urban environments like the Valley of the Sun, has a knack for attaching itself to our furry friends. Their bite can infect dogs with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which causes swollen lymph nodes, poor appetite and joint pain. Occasionally, the illness even spreads to humans.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that NAU graduate student Anna Kang won a prestigious National Science Foundation fellowship to compare two different types of brown dog ticks—and Kang’s work could help keep Arizonans safe.
Kang, a master’s student in the Department of Biological Sciences who uses they/them pronouns, is one of five Lumberjacks to receive three years of research funding through the 2026 Graduate Research Fellowship Program. They’re one of about 2,500 grad students nationally to win the competitive funding this year.
Why focus on ticks? Well, Kang said, why not?
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, I became really interested in thinking about how disease spreads,” Kang said. “When my mentor brought up ticks, I thought, ‘That sounds interesting. What can I make of this?’”
In assistant professor Kelly Speer’s lab, Kang will compare the traits of two lineages of ticks, the tropical brown dog tick and the temperate brown dog tick. Recent studies indicate that these two lineages may actually be different species, generating more questions on their different capabilities to spread disease. Historically, the temperate lineage has been more common in Arizona, but the tropical lineage has gained a growing foothold here in recent years.
“Both the temperate and tropical dog ticks have been spreading more; due to climate change, they can transmit themselves farther,” Kang said. “Arizona and Texas are currently some of the only states where we’ve identified both of these tick groups spreading at the same time.”
To find out more about brown dog ticks, Kang has to collect the ticks themselves. Because this type of tick is rarely found in the wild, they’re working this summer with animal shelters in the Valley to source the tiny arachnids, both dead and alive.
Back in Flagstaff, Kang will run several experiments on the ticks. After exposing them to a variety of environmental changes, Kang will examine their breathing patterns and take a closer look at their microbiomes. By taking these steps, Kang will be able to measure vector competence—that is, how good each lineage is at transmitting disease across different regions and how quickly their disease can spread.
Kang hopes their research project will further improve research that can protect Arizonans and their pets from harm as brown dog ticks continue to spread in the Valley and perhaps also in northern Arizona, whose residents often travel south for outdoor opportunities and pet adoptions.
“My goal is to further expand our understanding of what brown dog ticks are capable of,” Kang said. “What is their spread looking like as a whole in the U.S., especially as it seems like they’re becoming more common? How can we find out when tick populations might be increasing, and what can we do to help people and their dogs when that happens?”
Jill Kimball | NAU Communications
(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu