{"id":240,"date":"2021-01-08T14:20:52","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T14:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/?p=240"},"modified":"2021-01-11T18:38:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T18:38:45","slug":"surviving-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/2021\/01\/08\/surviving-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Surviving Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The tick\u2019s ability to survive through inclement weather has been one of the keys to its proliferation over the years.\u00a0 One mistake many people make, especially during the winter months, is thinking that ticks can\u2019t survive freezing temperatures.\u00a0 As a result, on a warmer winter day, they let their guard down and put themselves at risk for a tick encounter.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our\nprior blog posts talk about the tick lifecycle which on average is about two\nyears.  This means that ticks in the winter\nclimates still find a way to survive, even during spells of below-zero\ntemperatures.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biologically\nspeaking, ticks and other cold-blooded creatures don\u2019t hibernate.  Rather, they go into a low-energy stage.  This means that, as soon as temperatures rise\nabove freezing, even if it\u2019s just for a one or two-day spell in the middle of\nwinter, some ticks who have yet to feed can remobilize and resume questing for\na blood meal.  Of course, this is more\nlikely if the ground is thawed and the ticks aren\u2019t covered by snow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One\nof the tick\u2019s most crucial survival mechanisms, especially during the winter\nmonths, is its ability to withstand extremely low temperatures.  Researchers from Miami University of Ohio and\nOhio State University performed a study where they chilled species of ticks at\na constant rate while monitoring their body temperatures.  Through their experiment, they identified two\ncold-weather thresholds, a lower lethal temperature and the supercooling point.\nLower lethal temperature is the temperature that causes 50% mortality in a\npopulation, and the supercooling point is the temperature at which the tissues\nfreeze. For the Blacklegged Tick (Ixodes\nscapularis<\/em>), researchers found that some of them died at the lower lethal\ntemperature (-10o<\/sup> C \/ 14o<\/sup> F), but some were able to\nsurvive all the way to -21.7o<\/sup>C \/ -7.06o<\/sup>F by drawing water\nout of their cells before it crystallized. \nThe lower lethal limits for the ticks examined were high compared to\ntheir supercooling point, indicating that chilling can cause mortality however;\nsome ticks can survive past the lethal limit to temperatures of -7o<\/sup>F.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside\nfrom the occurrence of cold weather extremes, one of the most important factors\nin determining how active a tick will remain in the winter is whether it had a\nblood meal before freezing temperatures set in. \nAfter all, the blood meal is the sustenance which enables ticks to\nevolve to subsequent lifecycles.  For\nticks in the earlier larval and nymph stages who have yet to feed, the onset of\nwinter likely means they will remain inactive until temperatures rise above\nfreezing.  On the other hand, unfed ticks\nin the adult lifecycle stage can summon the strength needed to resume questing\nwhen the cold weather recedes, even if it\u2019s just for a day or two.  Additionally, ticks feed on warm-blooded\ncreatures, further enabling them to be active even when temperatures are\nextremely cold.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\nan environmental standpoint, ticks\u2019 most adverse landscapes are sunny, dry and\narid in nature.  Conversely, shade and\nmoisture, two of ticks\u2019 most favorable environmental conditions, are present\nduring the northeast winter months. \nAdditionally, the abundance of leaf litter from the fall season provides\nsuitable nests.  Ticks in the larval and\nnymph stages who have fed will use this time to begin evolving to the next\nlifecycle stage, while adult female ticks who have fed will begin converting\ntheir blood meal into eggs that they will lay in the spring.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfinal thing worth noting is the effect of changing temperatures on tick\npopulations.  With warmer winter\ntemperatures, ticks can survive through the shorter winter months. In addition,\ndue to warmer temperatures, common tick carrying hosts like white-tailed deer\nand the white-footed mouse are increasing their home range north and south\nwhich enable ticks to expand in new areas by hitching a ride. Therefore, people\nwho in the past may not have had to exercise the type of vigilance necessary to\nprotect them from tick encounters, will now have to be more proactive in protecting\nthemselves, their families, and their pets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/tickencounter.org\/tick_notes\/winter_tick_activity<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/tickencounter.org\/tick_notes\/polar_vorticks<\/a>

https:\/\/www.adk.org\/ticks-in-winter-ostfeld\/ <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6723576\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.americanpest.net\/blog\/post\/are-ticks-gone-in-winter#:~:text=Ticks%20don’t%20hibernate.&text=That%20means%20ticks%20can%20be,their%20own%2C%20their%20hosts%20can<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burks, C.S., R.J. Stweart, G. Needham and\nR. E. Lee, 1996; Cold hardiness in the ixodid ticks (Ixodidae), In: Acarology\nIX: Vol. 1, Proceedings, ed R. Mitchell, D.J. Horn, G.R. Needham and W.C.\nWelbourn, Ohio Biological Survey, Columbus Ohio. pp 85-87<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tick\u2019s ability to survive through inclement weather has been one of the keys to its proliferation over the years.\u00a0 One mistake many people make, especially during the winter months, is thinking that ticks can\u2019t survive freezing temperatures.\u00a0 As a result, on a warmer winter day, they let their guard down and put themselves at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions\/251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticklab.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}