2 ms·

Could be global warming, or at least warm winters (whether due to global warming or not).

• iamthepieman 7y ago
  it probably is global warming but of course that actually means many many interacting effects. In no particular order 1. Different weather patterns caused by El Nino(warm pacific equatorial temperatures resulting in increased precipitation) along with similar weather patterns in other areas of the world. This is especially noticeable during the winter with increased snow fall providing denser snowpack and a more protected subnivean zone for one of ticks primary hosts, white footed and field mice. Warm weather in general also helps. Ticks are not greatly affected by cold weather but their hosts are and when there are more hosts, there are more ticks. 2. Increased temperatures has a complex affect on tick habitat. While a rise in temperature can increase forest biomass and increase growth rates of transitioning forest, it decreases biomass at the forest edge which is a place where low lying scrub grows the most and provides ideal "questing"[0] habitat for ticks. So that seems like wash but it's actually more complex even that that. 3. This one is more Anthropocene than specifically climate related. Many prime tick hosts have adapted well to human crowded space including deer, mice and small mammals. Their predators such as wolves, foxes, and birds of prey have not fared as well. 4. Related to 3 above, sprawl puts people in closer proximity to habitats once favored by tick hosts so there may be a factor where ticks are not increasing so much as human/tick interaction is. [0]https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/life_cycle_and_hosts.html https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/life_cycle_and_hosts.html search for questing