KINGSTON, R.I. — Sept. 6, 2026 — It’s a beautiful day on Prudence Island. Sunlight glints off rolling waves, and a light breeze rustles the pitch pines as URI students Leith Harrison and Kaley Sussmann trek through the woods, survey equipment in hand. While many Rhode Islanders spend the summer trying to avoid ticks at all costs, Harrison and Sussmann are doing the exact opposite: they’re searching for them.

Harrison, a wildlife and conservation biology major at the University of Rhode Island, and Sussmann, a marine biology major, are conducting research in Associate Professor Jannelle Couret’s lab under the mentorship of master’s student Hailee Rice. Through the CELS Summer Research Fellowship, the undergraduates have been surveying tick populations across the state and creating maps of where different species occur, which will ultimately help the public better understand their chances of encountering a tick in the wild.

From fear to fascination

Neither Harrison nor Sussmann considered themselves tick enthusiasts when the summer began. In fact, both admit they were initially uneasy around the tiny arachnids they would soon spend their days collecting. “At first, I wouldn’t touch the ticks directly. I would only pick them up using tweezers,” Harrison recalls. But as she learned more about their behavior—including that ticks don’t immediately attach as soon as they encounter a host, but may spend hours searching for an ideal spot—her apprehension began to fade.

For Sussmann, getting comfortable around ticks came through what she jokingly calls “exposure therapy.” During an early day of fieldwork in Jamestown, she had six lone star ticks crawling on her arm at once. She swiftly but calmly removed each one, realizing that if she could make it through that, she could handle what the rest of the summer had in store. The research team also follows regular precautions to minimize the risk of tick bites, including performing routine full-body tick checks—sometimes multiple times a day—and using lint rollers to remove any ticks from their clothing after a survey.

As their comfort grew, so did their curiosity. For Harrison, the fellowship is her first research experience, and it’s taught her to ask questions beyond the immediate project. She began noticing patterns in the field, such as ticks appearing to favor certain plant species, and started keeping mental notes of ideas she hopes to explore in future research. 

Sussmann came into this fellowship after two years of experience studying shark movement ecology. Working with ticks introduced her to a completely different side of the animal kingdom and deepened her appreciation for terrestrial ecosystems. “The world around us is so cool,” she said.

Couret explained that the students’ work is part of a larger, multi-year project funded by the USGS and CDC to collect long-term ecological data on the abundance and distribution of ticks in Rhode Island to evaluate the risk of emerging tick-borne pathogens. “I was impressed with the curiosity and passion that Kaley and Leith brought to the project,” said Couret. “We also had a lot of fun,” she added.

Species in the spotlight: lone star and dog ticks

Rhode Island is home to several species of ticks, each with its own ecology and potential health implications. Among the best known is the blacklegged (deer) tick, the primary vector of Lyme disease in the Northeast. A more recent arrival, the Lone Star tick, has expanded its range into New England and has drawn attention because its bite can cause Alpha-gal syndrome, a condition that causes some people to develop an allergy to red meat. Lone star ticks are the focus of Sussmann’s research, while Harrison is studying American dog ticks. Though dog ticks receive less attention than their better-known relatives, they can still carry pathogens that affect people, wildlife, and domestic animals.

Flagging, dragging, and mapping

To conduct their surveys, Harrison and Sussmann use the “flag and drag” method, in which a square of thick, light-colored cloth attached to a wooden pole is dragged across the ground for a set distance. Every 30 seconds, the team stops to remove any ticks clinging to the cloth and places them in vials for identification back in the lab. Blacklegged tick nymphs are further sent to the University of Massachusetts Amherst for pathogen testing. They repeat this standardized protocol throughout a variety of habitats, including hiking trails, leaf litter, and grassy fields, in order to get the full picture of tick distribution in Rhode Island. Over the course of the summer, Harrison and Sussmann conducted a total of 62 surveys across 30 survey sites. The students emphasized that it’s important for researchers to understand where tick species occur and how their distributions may be shifting in response to things like climate change and development.

In the coming months, the two students will be translating their field data into distribution maps using RStudio. With these maps, the team will be able to identify tick hotspots, uncover habitat preferences, and inform public health outreach. “The goal isn’t to scare people away from nature,” Sussmann notes, “but rather to give them the information to enjoy nature safely.”

Written by CELS Communications Fellow Jessica Minker