With climate change, some of the parasites will remain active through winter and expand their habitats into new areas.
Ticks and some insect pests can carry bacteria, viruses and parasites that may cause disease in humans. One in particular, the blacklegged deer tick , is well-known for its ability to transmit the Lyme disease-causing bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi .
Cold adapted Ticks and other pests are prevalent in forests during the warmer months, from spring to fall. But where do they go during the winter, and how do they survive the cold polar vortexes, inches of snow and frostbite-inducing wind chill? Ticks, however, don’t enter diapause and are still able to bite and eat a blood meal under the right conditions. These bloodsucking parasites live close to their host organisms and can sometimes spend their entire life cycle on one animal. They use a technique called questing to find a host that will serve as their next blood meal. Ticks station themselves on vegetation such as tall grasses and assume a sit-and-wait position. This allows them to grab onto any warm-blooded creature passing by.
For instance, blacklegged deer ticks will avoid questing in warmer southern regions such as in South Carolina, where the risk of dehydration pushes them onto the ground, mostly below the leaf litter. In contrast, northern tick populations are less threatened by drying out because of humid conditions and are more likely to quest.
It is quite common for ticks to cluster in hibernation nests and seek refuge under the layer of soil and ground litter within forests, where the temperature is less likely to fall below zero. In addition, snow cover, which acts like an insulating blanket over ground litter, tends to further insulate ticks from the frigid winter air temperatures.
Using climate change models and current tick distribution patterns, we can now predict the impact of future climate change on the migration of ticks and the potential health risks that these populations carry across Canada and the United States. For example, the geographic distribution of the blacklegged tick is projected to expand and cover most of Atlantic Canada and Manitoba by the year 2070.
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