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The horrendous effects of climate change are evident everywhere you look. At present, a report from researchers at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) suggests that climate change favorable to a pest has an impact on the moose population in New England. According to their findings, winter ticks that are filled with blood by tens of thousands during the fall and winter are responsible for the deaths of about seven moose calves during this three-year study. years.
Researchers, who have been studying calves in New Hampshire and western Maine since 2014, published their findings in the Canadian Journal of Zoology in September, with UNH issuing a press release on this week's research. During each of these three years, the team examined 179 moose tagged on the radio to determine the presence of parasites and their condition over a four month period. Of the calves they examined, 125, or nearly 70%, died. The researchers suspect that this is mainly due to the winter tick.
"The iconic moose is fast becoming the new voice for climate change in some areas of the Northeast," said Pete Pekins, professor of wildlife ecology at UNH and lead author of the study, in a statement. "Normally anything that exceeds a 50% mortality rate would affect us, but at 70% we are facing a real problem in the moose population."
The problem is that winter in the region seems to be more and more delayed due to climate change, resulting in longer falls and earlier springs. This is good for the tick, which attaches to moose in the fall and feeds on its blood during the winter before detaching in the spring.
"Most people have heard of ticks and are concerned about Lyme disease," Perkins said last year in a UNH video about the team's research. "Let me just say that it's a different tick. Part of the story here in New England, while the slow effects of climate change have been felt, is that winters start later and later. Our first snowfall is the key to stopping the number of ticks that can reach a moose. "
The study found that 88% of the mortality of tagged calves was associated with "moderate to severe infestations" of the parasite, ticks causing wasting, anemia and blood loss. Each moose calf had an average of 47,371 ticks. But it's not even as bad as business can get it. In a case reported in the New York Times, researchers observed a dead moose calf with about 100,000 ticks – although this number was probably even higher before parasites broke off after his death. Beijing told the Times that more than 35,000 tick numbers were "a problem for a moose."
The researchers observed that conditions were slightly better for adult moose and that most survived, but they also showed signs of poor health, with anemia and blood loss. Ticks can also affect their reproductive habits by affecting their reproductive health.
"Moose are literally drained of blood. It's about as disgusting as it goes, "said Pekins at the Boston Globe last year.
This is not the first time we have heard about the decline of the moose population in New England. The team's research, which is the largest survey ever conducted on the New England moose population, was reported as early as 2015, when the cause and extent of deaths were not known. still clear.
It's not just the moose that has been hit by the tick explosion in the area. In addition, according to the Associated Press last year, the total number of ticks other than moose (which rarely bite humans) has increased over the past decade, resulting in an increase in number of cases of tick-related diseases among people living in New England. area.
[Canadian Journal of Zoology via UNH]Source link
