Media highlights UMaine study showing winter cold may not kill ticks
The Bangor Daily News and WMTW (Channel 8 in Portland) reported on University of Maine research that shows with the right conditions, black-legged tick nymphs could survive cold winter temperatures. “The findings of this study suggest that the impact of low temperatures on overwinter survival may not be the single factor limiting black-legged tick populations in northern Maine. While climate change likely has some role in the geographic range expansion of ticks in the state, the ecological mechanisms limiting the spread of the black-legged tick likely are very complex,” said Allison Gardner, UMaine assistant professor of arthropod vector biology and author of the study.