I came across this article about blacklegged (deer) ticks and their questing behavior in Northeastern and Midwestern vs. Southeastern United States. It seems that there is a correlation between the higher incidences of Lyme disease, and aggressive questing on top of leaf litter. I think that this answers my question as to why I find black legged ticks crawling up my leg when walking down a well-manicured trail in the pines with nothing but pine needles at my feet!
Something about this article also got me thinking: on another thread about ticks, someone mentioned that the incidences of Lyme in the Pine Barrens are less than what you may find up in the Northern counties. I always wondered why there were so many ticks in the pines, and then to find out that there is a lower incidence of Lyme baffled me. Could it be that the fence lizards (not a Lyme reservoir) are picking up a good number of the deer ticks and acting as a host (and not passing Lyme along)?
Here is the article:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/lyme-disease-carrying-ticks-are-now-half-all-us-counties
The scientific journal article in question:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127450
Something about this article also got me thinking: on another thread about ticks, someone mentioned that the incidences of Lyme in the Pine Barrens are less than what you may find up in the Northern counties. I always wondered why there were so many ticks in the pines, and then to find out that there is a lower incidence of Lyme baffled me. Could it be that the fence lizards (not a Lyme reservoir) are picking up a good number of the deer ticks and acting as a host (and not passing Lyme along)?
Here is the article:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/lyme-disease-carrying-ticks-are-now-half-all-us-counties
The scientific journal article in question:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127450
