• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • Contact Us
The Land Between

The Land Between

Explore - Learn - Inspire

  • The Charity
    • What We Do
      • Programs and Projects
      • 7 Pillars-Program Areas
    • How We Operate
      • Honouring the Treaties
      • Reconciliation and Restoration
    • Transparency & Accountability
    • Meet the Team
    • Our Partners & Supporters
    • The TLB Visitor’s Centre and Store
  • The Region
    • A PRIORITY PLACE IN CANADA
    • Geography
    • Natural Habitats
    • Wildlife
    • Snakes, Turtles, and Skinks
    • Culture
    • The Creative Economy
    • Explore TLB
      • Trails & Paddles
      • Cultural Journeys
      • Parks & Reserves
  • Caring For Nature
    • Stewardship and Restoration
      • Living in the The Land Between: A How-To Series
      • Snapping Turtles and Your Lake
      • Natural Shoreland Garden Workshops and Resources
      • The Natural Edge Shore Re-naturalization Site Visits
      • Shoreland Naturalization
      • Habitat Health Check-Ups
      • Incentives & Securement
    • Volunteering and Community Science
      • Phragmites Fighters
      • Snake Supervisors
      • Nightjar Surveys
      • Backyard Whippoorwill Challenge
      • Backyard BioBlitz Program
      • Birding in The Land Between
        • Bird Resources
        • Beginner Birding Centre
        • Aerial Insectivores
      • Turtle Guardians
    • Civics
    • Community Climate Change Adaptation
    • Report a Species
    • Events
  • Learning Centre
    • News & Blogs
    • Species At Risk in The Land Between
    • Nature Connectedness and Behaviour Change
    • Research Results
    • Indigenous Knowledge
  • Current Efforts
    • Events
    • Updates
    • Special Projects
    • Project and Program Areas
      • Supportive & Sustainable Economies
      • Biodiversity of the Land Between
      • Climate Change, Food Security, & Indigenous Ways of Knowing
      • Community Action/Science & Conservation
      • Civics and Municipal Policy
        • Municipal Bylaws
      • Sustainability & Living in the Land Between
      • Healthy Waters: Blue Lakes & Wetlands
      • Turtle Guardians
    • Newsletter: The Skink
  • Support Us
    • Donate
    • Shop
    • Become a Friend of TLB
    • Sponsor

Forest Fragmentation and Lyme Disease

June 23, 2020 by TLB

How Fragmented Forests Increase the Spread of Lyme Disease within The Land Between

By MaryJane Proulx

White footed mouse. Global Lyme Alliance

The Land Between is a rich ecotone, holding an abundance of glittering lakes, rivers, fens, wetlands, granite ridges and forests. The resources and diversity of the region provide key services and shelter to many different species. Despite the valuable ecological benefits that The Land Between ecotone embodies, it is becoming endangered and threatened by habitat and forest fragmentation. Forest fragmentation is defined as “the breaking of large forested areas into smaller pieces of forest, typically separated by roads, agriculture, or other human development” (Northern Woodlands, 2019). An obvious impact of forest fragmentation includes the loss of biodiversity through habitat isolation resulting in decreased forest health.  Increasing development pressures within The Land Between and expanding back country lots has resulted in forest fragmentation as realtors and cottagers scramble to eat up the last bits of forest. This has resulted in a decrease in wildlife corridors allowing for animal movement, migration, and dispersal. One of the consequences that makes The Land Between particularly vulnerable is the spread of pathogens in host populations.

More specifically, the number of mammalian hosts for zoonotic infections, such as Lyme disease, increases with species richness among mammals. Thus, as developments increase, human encroachment into species-rich habitats may increase exposure to these diseases. The University of Minnesota notes that “habitat fragmentation may promote disease outbreaks”. From a disease control perspective, the study results suggest that the desirable level of habitat connectivity will vary for specific host-pathogen systems. White-footed mice, which are a prominent species of The Land Between, and main carrier of Lyme disease, are particularly abundant in fragments smaller than five acres (Society for Conservation Biology, 2003). Increased white-footed mice leads to increased concentrations of black-legged ticks, which are most likely to spread the disease through human contact. White-footed mice thrive in isolated habitats, meaning that fragmented forests have the ability to increase population abundance and the spread of Lyme disease.

There are actions that can be taken to respond to the threat of forest fragmentation within The Land Between:

  • Protect existing high-quality wildlife greenspace
  • Manage and improve degraded greenspace
  • Restore sites of particular value that have been destroyed (such as wetlands)
  • Avoid fragmenting habitats or forests through developments
  • Reach out to your municipality to voice your concerns

 

Download in PDF: WFMouse, Lyme, ForestFragmentation.Proulx

Sources:

https://www.caryinstitute.org/sites/default/files/public/reprints/Allan_et_al_2003_Cons_Bio_17_267-272.pdf

https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/urban-regeneration-and-greenspace-partnership/greenspace-in-practice/practical-considerations-and-challenges-to-greenspace/habitat-fragmentation-practical-considerations/

Shawn M. Wilder, Douglas B. Meikle, Variation in Effects of Fragmentation on the White-Footed Mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) during the Breeding Season, Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 87, Issue 1, 20 February 2006, Pages 117–123, https://doi.org/10.1644/05-MAMM-A-035R1.1

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4227856/

https://www.thelandbetween.ca/the-region/

https://bioone.org/journals/the-american-midland-naturalist/volume-153/issue-1/0003-0031(2005)153%5b0071%3aTEOFFO%5d2.0.CO%3b2/The-Effects-of-Forest-Fragmentation-on-Densities-of-White-footed/10.1674/0003-0031(2005)153[0071:TEOFFO]2.0.CO;2.pdf

 

Category: General

About TLB

Previous Post: « TLB and Partners To Gather 20,000 Turtle Eggs to Incubate Under Permit
Next Post: Nightjars While Nest-Watching- A Personal Account »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Home
  • The Charity
  • The Region
  • Store
  • Donate
  • Become a Friend of TLB
  • Sponsor

The Land Between is a National Charity #805849916RR0001.
Your support helps us celebrate, conserve, and enhance this important region.

The Land Between
P.O. Box 1368
Haliburton, ON K0M 1S0
705-457-1222
info@thelandbetween.ca

We respectfully acknowledge that The Land Between is located within Williams Treaty 20 Mississauga Anishinaabeg territory and Treaty 61 Robinson-Huron treaty territory, in the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg. The Land Between respectfully acknowledges that these First Nations are the stewards and caretakers of these lands and waters in perpetuity and that they continue to maintain this responsibility to ensure their health and integrity for generations to come.

Graphic logo for The Sknik newsletter

Newsletter Signup

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2022 The Land Between