All #active #tick #stages (including #Larvae !) feed on #deer , thus enabling #cofeeding #transmission of tick-borne #Diseases

#FREE #Full #text #PDF available at https://goo.gl/gEAbfN

#Ixodes #ricinus #Capreolus #capreolus

#EU #FP6 #EDEN #Project #Emerging #Diseases in a changing #European #eNvironment #Epidemiology #Ticks #Parasites #Pathogens #Science #Scientific #Research #Data #OpenAccess #DOI #Germany #Deutschland #Europe #Europa #TBD #Zoonoses #ZoonoticDiseases #TickBorneDiseases

Visual guide to pests of mason bees. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #insects #osmia #wasps #mites #parasites https://extension.psu.edu/enemies-of-mason-bees

Young lumpfish

Grown to help clean parasites of salmon in pens

Adaptations for the intertidal, like suction cups on their bellies

Very interesting evolutionary adaption

#marinelife #lumpfish #aquaculture #parasites ##Iceland

known your #parasites

I've been listening to an audiobook on parasites and it's very unfortunate that narrator mispronounces larvae and genus. Among many other words. #science #audiobook #books #biology #parasites

Science again showing why we cook our food, instead of enjoying salad or uncooked crayfish (the culprit here).

Do you want brain worms? This is how you get brainworms.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/03/this-is-what-it-looks-like-when-parasitic-worms-directly-invade-your-brain/ #Parasites #Brainworms #Science #Biology

Hawaiian parasitic flies develop better hearing to locate host crickets https://wp.stolaf.edu/news/st-olaf-research-hawaiian-parasitic-flies-develop-better-hearing-to-locate-host-crickets

Neural and behavioral #evolution in an eavesdropper with a rapidly evolving host https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00048-X

"some male Pacific field #crickets were evolving new songs through wing mutations, so as not to become prey to parasitic #flies. In turn, the flies have improved in their ability to find the crickets... Will the crickets evolve new songs, yet again?"

19-Feb-2025
Parasitic orchids live healthier

Why have some #orchids stopped photosynthesis and become #parasites feeding on #fungi? Kobe University researchers found that in at least one species the transition may be driven by the opportunity more than by the need to do so.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1073397 #science #ecology #plants

Burning in woman’s legs turned out to be slug #parasites migrating to her #brain - https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/02/burning-in-womans-legs-turned-out-to-be-slug-parasites-digging-in-her-brain/ "The worms migrate through the blood or along peripheral nerves to get to the central nervous system. Movement along the peripheral nerves is what causes sensory abnormalities, like the woman's burning feet."

#Fungus hacks natural immune system to cause neurodegeneration in fruit flies https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fungus-hacks-natural-immune-neurodegeneration.html

Toll-1-dependent immune evasion induced by fungal #infection leads to cell loss in the #Drosophila brain https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003020

"Beauveria bassiana was able to make the fly's innate #ImmuneSystem trigger a process that kills neurons and glia in the brain... this enables spores to beat the blood-brain barrier and start feeding on brain cells."

Interesting.

"[W]ater is transported from the roots to the shoots/leaves because the atmosphere (where the shoots/leaves are) have lower water concentration than the soil (where the roots are).
[...]
So in order to suck up water from its host, a mistletoe would need to maintain a lower water potential than the shoots of the host tree - this is why mistletoes are very thirsty plants."

https://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2025/02/lysiana-exocarpi.html

“The pump don’t work
’Cause the vandals took the handles…”

#America
#DOGE
#parasites

Idiocy is the greatest sin of humanity. Something that has been worshiped and praised. Too much of it is in power, and I am disappointed. The politicians saying in my prayers, is the same energy as the ones that say, call your politician. #Idiocy #Politics #Leaders #World #Parasites #Richvspoor

Infrastructure neglect and poverty lead to parasites in the Mississippi Delta

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/01/mississippi-delta-water-parasites

I usually go on nature walks with long pants and sleeves, but I've seen others go with minimal clothing.

"While Singapore does not require doctors to report tick bites or tick-borne diseases, a recent study has learnt that all 11 species of ticks found to have bitten humans in the island-state between 2002 and 2023 are capable of carrying one or more harmful microbes."

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/ticking-time-bomb-study-on-ticks-in-singapore-calls-for-greater-vigilance

Paper by me (+ Cooper & Rott) on Tick hazard in the South Downs National Park (UK) + how to control without reducing ecosystem health. Free-to-read in @PeerJ at: https://peerj.com/articles/17483

Funders: @britishdeersoc , @BritishEcolSoc

ABSTRACT:
Background. #SouthDowns National Park (SDNP) is UK’s most visited #NationalPark, and a focus of tick-borne #Lymedisease. UK's first presumed locally acquired cases of #TBE and #babesiosis were recorded in 2019–20. The #SouthDownsNationalPark aims to conserve wildlife and encourage recreation, so interventions are needed that reduce hazard without negatively affecting ecosystem health. To be successful these require knowledge of site hazards.

Methods. British Deer Society members submitted ticks removed from deer. Key potential intervention sites were selected and six 50 m2 transects drag-sampled per site (mostly twice yearly for 2 years). #Ticks were identified in-lab (sex, life stage, species), hazard measured as tick presence, density of ticks (all life stages, DOT), and density of nymphs (DON). Sites and habitat types were analysed for association with hazard. Distribution was mapped by combining our results with records from five other sources.

Results. A total of 87 Ixodes ricinus (all but one adults, 82% F) were removed from 14 deer (10 Dama dama; three Capreolus capreolus; one not recorded; tick burden, 1–35) at 12 locations (commonly woodland). Five key potential intervention sites were identified and drag-sampled 2015–16, collecting 623 ticks (238 on-transects): 53.8% nymphs, 42.5% larvae, 3.7% adults (13 M, 10 F). Ticks were present on-transects at all sites: I. ricinus at three (The Mens (TM); Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QECP); Cowdray Estate (CE)), Haemaphysalis punctata at two (Seven Sisters Country Park (SSCP); Ditchling Beacon Nature Reserve (DBNR)). TM had the highest DOT at 30/300 m2 (DON = 30/300 m2), followed by QECP 22/300 m2 (12/300 m2), CE 8/300 m2 (6/300 m2), and SSCP 1/300 m2 (1/300 m2). For I. ricinus, nymphs predominated in spring, larvae in the second half of summer and early autumn. The overall ranking of site hazard held for DON and DOT from both seasonal sampling periods. DBNR was sampled 2016 only (one adult H. punctata collected). Woodland had significantly greater hazard than downland, but ticks were present at all downland sites. I. ricinus has been identified in 33/37 of SDNPs 10 km2 grid squares, Ixodes hexagonus 10/37, H. punctata 7/37, Dermacentor reticulatus 1/37.

Conclusions. Mapping shows tick hazard broadly distributed across SDNP. I. ricinus was most common, but H. punctata’s seeming range expansion is concerning. Recommendations: management of small heavily visited high hazard plots (QECP); post-visit precaution signage (all sites); repellent impregnated clothing for deerstalkers; flock trials to control H. punctata (SSCP, DBNR). Further research at TM may contribute to knowledge on ecological dynamics underlying infection density and predator re-introduction/protection as public health interventions. #EcologicalResearch on H. punctata would aid control. SDNP Authority is ideally placed to link and champion policies to reduce hazard, whilst avoiding or reducing conflict between public health and ecosystem health.

Private Equity Destroyed Your Favorite Movie Theater

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwkJ5tt1ACI

Dismantling America for profit. How one sector is destroying the US economy.