51. Community Ecology
Community Interactions
Problem 13b
Textbook Question
Textbook QuestionLyme disease is caused by infections of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi (stained blue in inset, among red blood cells) which is transferred to humans via blood-sucking bites from the tick, Ixodes scapularis. Lyme disease can cause flu-like symptoms in the short term and more serious illnesses in the long term, if not treated. Why is Lyme disease on the rise in eastern North America? Deer are hosts of ticks but are not reservoirs of B. burgdorferi—their immune systems detect and kill the bacterium. But a tick with a prior bacterial infection can consume a blood meal from a deer and then bite and infect a human. The fitness effects of a deer on B. burgdorferi can be summarized as: a. + because the deer supplies the bacterium with food. b. − because the deer kills the bacteria in its blood. c. + because the deer feeds and disperses the tick that can then infect a human with the bacterium. d. − or + depending on whether the deer is the tick's last host.
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