Please email the Technical and Business proposals to: [email protected]

Questions may be submitted until:
04/13/2015 by1:00 p.m.

Proposal must be submitted by (Includes separate Technical and Business Proposal):
04/20/2015 by1:00 p.m.

Title: Questing Attributes of Ticks as Determined by Relative Time, Temperature, and Precipitation

PURPOSE

The purpose/goal of this study is to determine the effects of time (daylight), temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation (rain events) on questing Ixodes scapularis (blacklegged tick) and Amblyomma americanum (lone-star tick). These factors ultimately affect the presence and questing behavior of these tick species and will allow investigators to make recommendations on intervention-based strategies for tick control (applications of acaricides) based on peak questing times and seasonality. These variables are needed to account for efficacy of deployed interventions, spatial distribution of ticks, and human tick encounters when determining entomologic risk.

SCOPE OF WORK

The vendor shall furnish all labor, materials and equipment necessary to evaluate questing attributes of blacklegged ticks and lone-star ticks as determined by relative time, temperature, humidity, and precipitation. Vendor will also determine spatial distribution of ticks on residential properties - particularly within versus outside of areas on a residential property that would be included in a barrier spray application focusing on the lawn/wood edge - via flagging and/or tick-drag sampling methods. Vendor will provide weekly reports and perform statistical analysis. All data will be sent to CDC/NCEZID/DVBD, Fort Collins, CO.

TASKS TO BE PERFORMED

1) Vendor will compare questing tick behavior in both forested/natural settings (areas with a minimum of > 0.1 tick/m2 and sufficient historical tick sampling data) as well as residential areas.

2) Data loggers will be set out at predetermined areas to record temperature and humidity. Targeted areas will include: centrally located forested sites, near residences, high-traffic areas, maintained landscape, ecotone, forested-natural areas, as well as small mammal reservoir-targeted habitat.

3) An aerial tripod mounted weather station will be centrally located at each of the two designated test areas (residential and forested/natural area). These units will remotely provide investigators the ability to record relative time, temperature, humidity, wind speed, barometric pressure, and measureable precipitation. This data will be used to make comparisons of tick collections on/near location of weather stations and data loggers.

4) Flagging and/or tick-drag sampling of all areas will be conducted according to recorded captured weather information and comparisons made among weather events, among tick species, and tick life stages for the following:

-Time of day
-Wind speed
-Relative humidity
-Temperature
-Dry weather vs post-rain event