Prevalence of parasitism by Amblyomma americanum on wild turkey poults as influenced by prescribed burning.

Captive-raised eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) poults were allowed to forage on either recently burned plots or on plots that had not been burned during the previous 3 years. Following a two hour exposure on the study plots, external parasites were recovered from all poults. The louse (Menacanthus stramineus) and the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) were the only parasites recovered. Fifty-nine poults exposed to the burned plots had a significantly (P less than 0.001) lower prevalence of A. americanum infestation than did 57 poults exposed to the unbured plots. Thirty-five percent of the poults exposed to the unburned plots were infested by A. americanum. A single A. americanum was recovered from one poult exposed to burned plots.