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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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Urban Habitats, How Plants and Animals Adapt to Cities

More than half of the world’s population now resides in cities, and the United Nations projects that 5 billion people will call a city home by 2030. “We need to understand how cities are changing the ecology of the systems they are built on, and how plants and animals are adapting to them,” says Dieter Hochuli, a Ph.D. biologist who specializes in integrative ecology at the University of Sydney, in Australia.

For the most part, plants and animals adapt to urban surroundings using traits that help them survive in their natural habitat, but some scientists predict the pressures of the city, especially pollution, may become so great that evolution may intervene. “We’ve created this whole new habitat that never used to exist here,” remarks Angela Moles, a University of New South Wales (Australia) plant biologist. “There will be some species living here that are not doing so well and there’ll be selection for individuals that can do better in an urban environment.”

“We still have functioning ecosystems, they’re just different from what they were 200 years ago,” comments Hochuli. Some shifts will be irreversible.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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