Study area
Staten Island (SI), NYC, USA, has a population of 474,893 with a density
of 3,132 people/km2 (World Population Review 2022) and
the highest tree canopy cover of all NYC boroughs (Nowak et al.2018, 73% development, 27% natural landcover with 12% tree cover;
Figure 1). Increasing rates of LD cases on SI from 4 to 25 per 100,000
between 2000 and 2016 (NYC DOHMH 2020) motivated this research. Prior
work shows metapopulation dynamics structure tick population persistence
in SI parks where park’s centrality – its level of connectivity for
deer – predicts nymphal tick density and infection prevalence (VanAckeret al. 2019). Thus, SI offers an ideal landscape to examine deer
movement responses to LDF and LIF and their consequences on tick-borne
disease.