Jan 23, 2018
Tyson Staff Scientist Solny Adalsteinsson published a paper in the journal Parasites & Vectors. She and her colleagues found that forests with a multiflora rose understory appear to bring together ticks and reservoir hosts for the Lyme disease pathogen. But that does not necessarily increase Lyme disease risk when compared to uninvaded forests at a broader scale.
(a) Forest with R. multiflora invasion (b) Forest without R. multiflora invasion
Adalsteinsson, S.A., W.G. Shriver, A. Hojgaard, J.L. Bowman, D. Brisson, V. D'Amico, J.J. Buler. 2018. Multiflora rose invasion amplifies prevalence of Lyme Disease pathogen, but not necessarily Lyme Disease risk. Parasites & Vectors. 11:54. doi: 10.1186/s13071=018-2623-0