I don’t know about the southern border of Texas, but much of the Southern / South-Eastern USA is experiencing varying degrees of drought this spring with very little relief in sight. The last time things were this bad in my part of the country was about 20 - 25 years ago.
I wonder how that will play into the spread of these parasites. Will they spread more quickly due to sicker/weaker wild populations of host animals spreading out trying to find ever more scarce food and water resources?
It’s not quite the same thing, but that prior major drought I mentioned from a couple decades ago is widely discussed as having been the source event for the spread of fire ants to my area. A lot of our agricultural products like animal feeds are grown, produced, and consumed locally. However, in drought years, things like hay have to be transported in from other parts of the country and it’s believed that the fire ants hitched a ride from out of state that way.
Texas is wet right now and projected to have a hot, wet summer. This is ideal for screwworm spreading within the state and yes, droughts elsewhere mean Texas will probably be exporting screwworm filled products to a neighborhood near you soon.
I don’t know about the southern border of Texas, but much of the Southern / South-Eastern USA is experiencing varying degrees of drought this spring with very little relief in sight. The last time things were this bad in my part of the country was about 20 - 25 years ago.
I wonder how that will play into the spread of these parasites. Will they spread more quickly due to sicker/weaker wild populations of host animals spreading out trying to find ever more scarce food and water resources?
It’s not quite the same thing, but that prior major drought I mentioned from a couple decades ago is widely discussed as having been the source event for the spread of fire ants to my area. A lot of our agricultural products like animal feeds are grown, produced, and consumed locally. However, in drought years, things like hay have to be transported in from other parts of the country and it’s believed that the fire ants hitched a ride from out of state that way.
Texas is wet right now and projected to have a hot, wet summer. This is ideal for screwworm spreading within the state and yes, droughts elsewhere mean Texas will probably be exporting screwworm filled products to a neighborhood near you soon.