Fig. 5

Assessment of habitat infestations when cattle and nilgai are treated for tick elimination. Simulated mean proportions of landscape cells infested with off-host (potentially host-seeking) tick larvae per hectare on a hypothetical 10,000-ha ranch during the indicated weeks of 2014: (i) on whole ranch, and in (ii) good, (iii) fair, and (iv) poor tick habitats. Simulations were run under weather conditions recorded in Willacy County, Texas, USA, from January 2009 through December 2018, and assumed complete and continuous elimination of all on-host ticks on cattle and nilgai beginning week 25 of 2009. Tick hosts present on the ranch included cattle, white-tailed deer and nilgai. Thirty-one percent, 28 percent and 41 percent of the ranch was considered good, fair and poor habitat, respectively, for off-host tick larvae. Relative habitat use preferences of hosts for good, fair and poor tick habitats, respectively, were 0.30, 0.10 and 0.60 for cattle, 0.20, 0.40 and 0.40 for white-tailed deer, and 0.30, 0.10 and 0.60 for nilgai