Impact of Invasive Japanese Barberry Cascades Through Local Food Webs
Dense thickets of invasive Japanese barberry significantly reduce the diversity and numbers of insects and arthropods in forests, according to new research. The ripple effects can extend upward throughout local ecosystems, even affecting human health via an increased presence of Lyme disease.
Counting Ticks on Animals is More Complicated Than It Sounds
Simply counting the number of ticks on a host animal seems like a straightforward task, but an analysis of published tick research finds no single, standard method among scientists. A group of researchers says tick-counting methods should be as rigorous as any other scientific procedure and described clearly enough to allow their use in other studies.
Manage Japanese Barberry to Keep Tick Levels Low, Reduce Lyme Risk
Clearing the invasive shrub Japanese barberry from a wooded area once can lead to a significant reduction in abundance of blacklegged ticks for as long as six years