Acorns Signal Lyme Risk More Than Deer Counts
TL;DR
A long-term study in New York’s Hudson Valley finds deer abundance does not predict Lyme disease risk; acorn-driven mouse populations and the broader small-mammal community shape tick abundance and infection, making acorn cycles a key predictor of future risk, with warmer years altering these dynamics.
- Want to predict Lyme disease risk? Count the acorns, not the deer CIDRAP
- Mice may drive Lyme disease more than deer Hays Post
- 35-year monitoring study clarifies ecological forces behind Lyme disease risk phys.org
- 35-Year Study Overturns Assumptions About What Drives Lyme Disease Labcompare
- Mice may drive Lyme disease Vermont Daily Chronicle
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