Worst year for Lyme disease Risk

[philamom]

Expected To Be The Worst Year For Lyme Disease Risk Ever

 

story from the New York Times

 

After Lean Acorn Crop in Northeast, Even People May Feel the Effects

In Central Park, more than 1,000 trees in the red oak family were spangling the scenery with the colors of autumn.

 

But this year, they were failing to do something else they generally do in the harvest season: produce acorns.

 

“I remember going into areas and you’d get the crunch of acorns under your feet,” said Neil Calvanese, vice president for operations at the Central Park Conservancy. “And this year, you kind of have to search around for them.”

 

It is a phenomenon happening not only in New York but also throughout the Northeast. While last fall set a recorded high for acorn production, at roughly 250 pounds per tree, this year is seeing a recorded low, with a typical tree shedding less than half a pound of its seeds, said Mark Ashton, a forest ecologist at Yale University. On average, oaks produce about 25 to 30 pounds of acorns a year.

 

“Scarlet oak, black oak, true red oak,” Dr. Ashton said. “These are the ones that dominate our forest, and these are the ones that aren’t producing acorns this year.”

 

Coming on the heels of an acorn glut, the dearth this year will probably have a cascade of effects on the forest ecosystem, culling the populations of squirrels, field mice and ground-nesting birds. And because the now-overgrown field mouse population will crash, legions of ticks — some infected with Lyme disease — will be aggressively pursuing new hosts, like humans.

 

“We expect 2012 to be the worst year for Lyme disease risk ever,” said Richard S. Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y. “We are already planning educational materials.

[Suzan]

Whoa, great. Hopefully if there is an increase in lyme at least we get more people diagnosed and more out in the open and treated better. That is crazy. I wonder what is going on with the trees?

 

Susan

[SSS]

No worries, we don't have Lyme here.

 

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

 

Interesting article, thanks for posting.

[cobbiemommy]

Yeah! No worries here either, because we don't have Lyme in Missouri. (ha ha) This article is not good news.

 

Cobbie