54. Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases: Protecting Yourself in the Outdoors with Dr. Holly Gaff, Old Dominion University

Virginia Outdoor Adventures: Hiking, Camping, Kayaking, Local Travel and more! · Feb 20, 2024 · 1h

“As part of the change in economy, we reforested the eastern part of the United States. We have a lot of forests now that are about 100 years old. As the trees came back, the deer came back, as the deer came back, the ticks came with them. And then the pathogens, of course, come along for the ride as well. I think about it from an ecology perspective, that what we did not bring back was also those top predators. So we end up with this ecology of weedy species, like deer, that do replication really well, and raccoons and rodents and all these things that also make excellent tick food.” – Dr…