Story submitted by Eric Worrall
At least one Australian is not unhappy at the country’s recent hot spell. The following is a picture of something I pulled off a private part of my anatomy earlier this year.
Yes, it’s a paralysis tick, Ixodes Holocyclus
But I haven’t been bitten since, despite living in the Australian bush. Why? Because the recent hot spell has killed most of the ticks.
Ticks can’t survive long dry spells which are hotter than 32c:
Humid conditions are essential for survival of the paralysis tick. Dry conditions, relatively high (32°C) and low (7°C) temperatures will kill all stages after a few days. An ambient temperature of 27°C and high relative humidity is thought to be optimal for rapid development (Clunies-Ross, 1935).
Source: http://www.animaloptions.com.au/index.php?page=paralysis-ticks
The recent week or so of dry 40°C+ temperatures in Australia has disrupted their breeding cycle.
An added benefit, apart from the yuck factor, is the reduced risk this year, of myself and my fellow Australians catching one of the awful diseases associated with tick bites, such as Queensland Tick Typhus.
Global warming? Bring it on.
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James Delingpole writes about a similar subject:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100198280/save-the-crabs/
Another species threatened by climate change.
Our dog is overjoyed at the news.
Not to mention the lack of those pesky mossies. Love this warm dry weather….hardly a heat wave. Just summer in Oz.
Is that similar to Lime Disease which we have from deer ticks in Pennsylvania?
This reminds me of one of the famous quotes of a Dutch footballstar Johan Cruijff: Every disadvantage has its advantage; in Dutch: ieder voordeelt heeft zijn nadeel.
I had a full Anaphylactic reaction to my first tick bite – within seconds my whole body was covered with blister welts, I eliminated everything from my body from both ends at once and I couldn’t breathe – thought I was going to die.
The second time was less of an event fortunately.
So this is good news 🙂
That one is gonna tick off the warmists.
The picture is of the ventral surface, showing the anus, suggesting the anal groove, showing the genital groove and suggesting the genital pore.
There are studies from Palearctic Eurasia suggesting that Ixodes in general are not so affected by temperature. It is known that dessication is the major abiotic stressor and that Ixodes have evolved strategies to maintain hydration. Starvation is the major biotic stress. It may be that the increase in Growing Degree Days will increase the subsequent prevalence.
The effect of diapause is significant.
The spread of Ixodes north and west in the Nearctic is attributed to climate change moderating the conditions for long distance transport vectors. Locally, Ixodes prevalence is rapidly increasing despite our -30°C – +30°C (-22°F – +86°F) temperature range.
Our local Ixodes scapularis, Blacklegged Deer Tick is known be a biological vector and tick paralysis from toxins is just starting to be reported. In the local population of 700 souls there have been a half-dozen recent cases of Lyme Disease from Ixodes tick bites.
I was bitten twice in Kings Park in Perth last December (they leave a permanent scar), but fortunately i suffered no side effects, not even a tic
It is a pity the heat conditions won’t remove another form of paralysis tick that has invaded Tasmania this week.
The IPCC with Dr Rajendra Pachauri are holding a conference in Hobart at present.
Here is a collection of news items with video from our ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/climate-change/
@JPP: No, tick paralysis is not similar to Lyme Disease. LD is caused by a spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, while TP is due to a neurotoxin that appears common to ticks and apparently particularly to Ixodes, the hard-body ticks. I. scapularis carries a number of other diseases. I. holocyclus may also be discovered to do so.
The great resource that Mr. Worall’s story brings is the illustration and comparison of the sizes of I. holocyclus, the Paralysis Tick, as at the Wikipedia article. Ticks are TINY, but the typical FedGov illustration magnifies them to where they might be seen crawling up ones leg. Not so! I say that the characteristic dimensions of egg and larva are ½mm, nymph is 1mm and unfed adult is 2mm. Consider that a gravid female lays ~3,000 eggs (limits their size due to spherical packing considerations), a larva has not yet fed, only as the larva matures to nymph is there a doubling and from nymph to adult.
hi Eric. My wife asked after you yesterday and wondered how you were getting on in Australia. I’ll tell her it is all going tickety-boo.
This is not a heatwave, not in an Aussie summer! The media can spin it all they want, but its not a heatwave, hot yes, but that is all!
A paralysis tick.
Which part of your private anatomy was paralysed!
“Yes, it’s a paralysis tick, Ixodes Holocyclus”
This should read …. Ixodes holocyclus.
That explains why our cats and dogs kept bringing in ticks all through the summer, and even have the occasional one now. We didn’t have a particularly hot summer and this winter has been fairly mild and very wet. Of course the fact that we are surrounded by sheep doesn’t help much either!
We’ve been having wet conditions for five years, last summer being very cool as well as moist. When I’ve been working my bamboo grove’s fringe to expand it, I’ve come back with heaps of ticks from contact with lantana, tea tree etc. With the drought since last autumn, it will be interesting to see if the tick population is down. Trouble is, there’s hardly any new bamboo, so no reason to work in there. I must say, I’ve had no ticks just from getting about the paddocks – not a single one for months, now you mention it.
Great. Makes up for the deaths from extreme heat, more deaths and damage from catastrophic bushfires, fires, the drying out of Australias food bowl -the Murray-Darling river system, etc etc. Of course we can always move to sunny Siberia.
The size of the Ixodes population depends mainly on the possibility of getting the bloodmeal. Every stage need a bloodmeal but Ixodes ricinus can have a lifecycle of 4-6 years and an individual can survive one year without blood. The female of Ixodes ricinus lays 2000 eggs before she dies. If 2 survives to adult the population is stable, if 4 survives the population is doubled. The huge increase of roe deer and white-tailed deer populations in Finland has caused an increase in the number of ticks. Bambi is a good blood restaurant for ticks.
I have made experiments with washing of ticks in washing machines. They survive washing programs with +40°C with different washing powder.
The funny thing is that in Sweden Ixodes ricinus is reported to react on global warming. This happens, however, only along the Swedish coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. On the Finnish side of the coast there have been tick populations much further to the North already in the 1970’s when a surwey was done.
J. Philip Peterson says:
January 17, 2013 at 4:17 am
Is that similar to Lime Disease which we have from deer ticks in Pennsylvania?
================================================================
Don’t think so, totally different virus. And it is called Lyme disease, after Lyme in Connecticut. However, I think I did have lime disease once, after drinking too many daiquiris….
Philip Shehan says:
January 17, 2013 at 5:56 am
Great. Makes up for the deaths from extreme heat, more deaths and damage from catastrophic bushfires, fires, the drying out of Australias food bowl -the Murray-Darling river system, etc etc. …
The fires might have been less severe, if over zealous Australian authorities stopped putting people in jail when they try to cut a few firebreaks on their own land.
http://joannenova.com.au/2013/01/in-australia-if-you-try-to-clear-a-firebreak-on-your-land-you-could-go-to-gaol/
oebele bruinsma says:
January 17, 2013 at 4:19 am
Every disadvantage has its advantage
=======
yin-yang
the teachings of buddha.
every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction.
the law of unintended consequences.
DaveA says: January 17, 2013 at 3:49 am
Another species threatened by climate change.
_______________________________________
Every second TV ad in Holland is a ‘save the animals’ ad. Normally involving lovable seals, cute kittens, and darling donkeys. Somehow, I don’t think they will start a new campaign with ‘save the ticks and parasites’.
But this observation goes to the root of the Green Environmental con-trick. It is all about emotional manipulation and emotional blackmail, and nothing to do with science.
.
Please, neither Lyme Disease not Tick Paralysis have anything to do with viruses (virii). Lyme Disease is caused by a spirochete bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is arguably curable. Tick Paralysis is caused by a neurotoxic chemical that is ‘cured’ by removal of the tick source.