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Spring Thaw: Ticks, Disease, Public Health, and Landscaping

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Webinar

Presented by: Dr. Holly Tuten, Associate Scientist, Vector Ecology, Illinois Natural History Survey

Illinois Extension Local Government Education webinar series welcomes Dr. Holly Tuten, Associate Scientist in Vector Ecology, from the Illinois Natural History Survey to present Spring Thaw: Bugs, Disease, Public Health, and Landscaping Practices. Tuten will cover research and surveillance on ticks in regard to climate change, and how to respond in practical and management-related ways.

Dr. Holly Tuten is a Vector Ecologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey. Her undergraduate matriculation was at UNC-Chapel Hill (B.Sc. biol. with chem. minor) where she conducted research on Drosophila Americana and fieldwork on tick surveillance. She obtained her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Entomology at Clemson University as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow investigating the ecology of arthropod vectors in zoological parks. Her first post-doc at the University of Kentucky laid the groundwork for a mass release of modified mosquitoes in American Samoa. Her second post-doc was on invasive mosquito vectors at the Institute for Parasitology in Zurich where she also provided taxonomic expertise to the arthropod diagnostic lab. Following this, she spent 2.5 years training and working with USDA APHIS as a Risk Analyst for the prevention, detection, and control of invasive pests in the United States. She conducts research on ticks and mosquitoes and runs the Illinois statewide active tick surveillance program through a contract with the State of Illinois Department of Public Health. Holly can be reached by email at htuten@illinois.edu or by phone at 217-244-3931.

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