A Bishop’s University professor says the changing climate has been having an impact on ticks and their trek northward in recent years.
Photos of ticks are being submitted by residents of New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario as part of an online research project.
Dr. Jade Savage says there are twelve known species of ticks in Eastern Canada and only one species, the black-legged tick, carries Lyme disease.
“We don’t just give them (residents) a species name because for most people it doesn’t matter what species they collected because that’s not what they’re interested in – that’s what I’m interested in. But they want to know if this arthropod is dangerous,” she notes.
Dr. Savage says the profile of the tick fauna is changing rapidly and new species can arrive which is the why detailed information is so important.
A current map shows a number of tick photos have been vetted from New Brunswick, mostly in the southern half of the province.
To check out the research or to submit a photo of a tick, visit etick.ca
