Maine tick survey reveals more found in 2021 than 2020

ELIOT, Maine — College of Maine scientists are having a superior strategy of in which deer ticks are in Maine and what conditions they transmit. 

Earlier this week, researchers released the most current details from ticks collected by landowners in nine counties, and it showed that a quarter of these ticks tested beneficial for Lyme disorder. The data also are predicted to assist pinpoint why and wherever tick populations are thriving

Jill Ferrelli and her spouse and children really like to hike the woods on their historic farmland Eliot, which addresses 1,000 acres. But she problems about cherished types, in particular her youthful granddaughter, contracting Lyme disorder or other co-bacterial infections from black-legged or deer ticks.  

“I want to make certain we know what is actually out in this article so if she does get little bit we know what to glance for,” Ferrelli mentioned.

Ferrelli spent the previous two summers, dragging for ticks on her land. 

Soon after receiving on line coaching, drag cloths, and tweezers, Ferrelli collected nymph ticks, which are very little and can be tricky to location on the overall body, in this location of the woods. In 2020, she found 45. The following year, she only found five.

“I dragged and dragged, and I put in additional dragging time” Ferrelli additional.

As portion of the 2021 University of Maine Tick Forest survey, 150 hundred home house owners unfold across 9 southern and coastal counties in Maine. 

Citizen researchers, who have been educated to report to scientists, gathered virtually 2,400 deer ticks, up from 1,600 in 2020. 20-5 % of them carried the pathogens that result in Lyme disorder, and the greatest rates of ticks carrying Lyme had been uncovered in Cumberland, Lincoln, and Knox counties. The two-12 months undertaking utilized virtually 300 citizen scientists, who were experienced in self-reporting to researchers. 

“Even however we collected a lot extra ticks this past summer time, the pathogen prices are about the very same as those we gathered in 2020,” Ballman stated.

Elissa Ballman is the citizen science coordinator for the College of Maine Forest Tick Survey. She claimed wet, cooler weather conditions last summertime played a position in the larger variety of ticks. 

Like in 2020, the 2021 survey located there were drastically fewer black-legged ticks on timberland, harvested in the previous 20 several years. But that was not the case for houses with invasive crops, which can consider above the forest flooring and build favorable habitats for ticks.

“Homes that experienced the honeysuckle or barberry bush had substantially much more ticks than those with no,” Ballman said.

Ferrilli mentioned she wasn’t absolutely sure why she located less ticks in an space of Maine regarded as a hotspot for tick action. But figuring out what ticks are questing on her land, she explained she would consider added precautions to assist keep her spouse and children protected.

Scientists are seeking for techniques to expand the task to all of Maine’s 16 counties, but there is no system still to do the landowner survey next summer months. The info collected will be incorporated in a number of scientific experiences that will be introduced sometime in the long run.