Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada • Hacker News Board

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#171

Post by matsemann » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 6:24 PM UTC

sojournerc wrote: post #169

matsemann wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fact, though. You got too hung up on altitude, which I guess is just a proxy for temperature when I compare to neighboring towns. Been mentioned on the news etc that more and more towns get disease bearing ticks here, due to conditions for them getting better with global warming. Not sure why hearing a negative effect from global warming triggered you so?

Goodness, who's triggered here? I merely attempted to point out nuance, that mono-causal explanations are lazy and perhaps ignore other factors that might go into the increase of ticks. Ecosystems change for all kinds of reasons, climate change among them. I didn't make any claims that temperature or moisture doesn't affect tick populations, but maybe there are some other factors at play. For instance, lack of predat…

No, I know for a fact the cause where I live is the climate, they can now survive where they earlier couldn't. Sure, there may be other reasons other places, but that wasn't what I wrote. I wrote about my town. Why that is so hard for you to grasp is honestly baffling, heh.

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#172

Post by giglamesh » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 6:25 PM UTC

littlestymaar wrote: post #18

topgrain2 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linen clothes are awesome. Long trousers and long sleeves and almost as cool as short sleeves and shorts in shade, and cooler in direct sun.

Linen is the most underappreciated fabric. It's cool in both ways. I don't understand why so few people wear linen in summer.

I'd love to try it, but I'm having trouble finding sustainable vendors. My use case is mostly gardening, hiking and just being outside as much as possible but still being somewhat protected from the sun (so a super light weave would not be ideal.) I'd be grateful for any suggestions, ideally from a source in the USA.

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#173

Post by hammock » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 6:57 PM UTC

HappySweeney wrote: post #113

hammock wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, yeah. Ticks live in grasses not on the ground. If you walk on bare trail and don’t brush on grass or other plants your chance of a tick is much lower

They measured density, not the probability of getting one.

Do you think those are maybe correlated? The measured density on the path

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#174

Post by abound » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 7:00 PM UTC

sbayg wrote: post #170

ravetcofx wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At what cost to the larger ecosystem. They are the base of a larger food web. Many creatures rely on eating them

But we have AI now to guide us and it will help ensure we prevent most major ecological miscalculations. The context is different now, given the change in the cost of planning and research into ecological side effects, unlike anything we had in the past.

AI is not a panacea.

The interplay between different components in natural environments is impossibly complex and we basically always get this wrong. Modern LLMs might be able to surface some likely effects of altering a habitat, but it's also very dependent on humans having already studied it in some capacity, there could be new or subtle second-order (and beyond) effects that we just aren't aware of and AI doesn't have the raw data to infer correctly.

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#175

Post by b112 » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 7:16 PM UTC

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #78

b112 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ticks have always been around Ottawa, and even in 2011? I recall -40C for well over a week, and obviously cold temps around that week. Insects lay eggs, and also go dormant under fallen leaves typically. The snow + leaves insulates them, it's how live insects survive the winter. If you watch robins in the spring, before the ground thaws, you'll see them flipping over leaves. They're eating loads of insects hiding, mo…

The lowest recorded temperature in Ottawa in the last 40 years was -33.1c in 1996. It hasn't been down to -40 since like 1911. You might be recalling wind chill temperatures, which would not be relevant here. They're subjective perceived temperatures for hairless apes. However it does occasionally get to (real) -40C ish in Edmonton area, and they now have populations of blacklegged ticks. But very small populations.…

I live in the Ottawa region, and it was indeed -40C for a week where I live. My Jetta screaming "warning extreme cold!" at start, and the kitchen window thermometer I have doubly validate that.

I'm also 20 minutes to downtown, outside of rush hour, so I stand by the ease of saying "Ottawa".

No you don't get my address, but temperatures in cities and at airports are warmer than rural areas in winter. Where I live, I'm also higher up by several hundred feet, and it all matters. I don't blame you for checking, but the city of Ottawa encompasses a lot of rural land.

It can rain torrents in part of southern Ottawa, but Ottawa weather stations could remain dry.

My point about snow and leaves, is that if there is snow cover, they're completely happy, insulated, nestled in the leaves.

I don't doubt you read an article, and from a reputable source, I just don't buy their assertions. Lack of snow cover would be a bigger predictor than overall temp.

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#176

Post by tamimio » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 7:18 PM UTC

winxton wrote: post #30

tamimio wrote: post #12

I got bitten by a mosquito in Ottawa a couple years ago that sent me to the hospital.. I stopped near the river while cycling to see a raccoon for few seconds, was more than enough for that lil sucker to do the job.

I got bitten by a tick at a cottage near Ottawa and got a fever then bell's palsy a month later. I didn't even notice I got bit at all at the time. A year later, I went to the hospital for a swollen knee and had surgery done, and ended up being tested positive for lyme disease. The doc says you're too young to have bell's palsy and arthritis. Careful out there!

That sounds awful. I hope you are doing better now!

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#177

Post by cmrdporcupine » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 8:27 PM UTC

b112 wrote: post #175

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lowest recorded temperature in Ottawa in the last 40 years was -33.1c in 1996. It hasn't been down to -40 since like 1911. You might be recalling wind chill temperatures, which would not be relevant here. They're subjective perceived temperatures for hairless apes. However it does occasionally get to (real) -40C ish in Edmonton area, and they now have populations of blacklegged ticks. But very small populations.…

I live in the Ottawa region, and it was indeed -40C for a week where I live. My Jetta screaming "warning extreme cold!" at start, and the kitchen window thermometer I have doubly validate that. I'm also 20 minutes to downtown, outside of rush hour, so I stand by the ease of saying "Ottawa". No you don't get my address, but temperatures in cities and at airports are warmer than rural areas in winter. Where I live, I'm…

Dude, weather stations record actual temperatures both in and outside the city. Environment Canada peppers the whole province with them. There's nowhere in southern or eastern Ontario that gets as cold as -40C. It simply doesn't happen. -35C is the lower bound and that is extreme.

I know this because I farm and grow grapes and have meticulously poured over weather charts for the whole province. (Survival cut off for hybrid and wild grapes is really around -32C or so. Vinifera... maybe -20C)

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#178

Post by b112 » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 10:26 PM UTC

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #177

b112 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the Ottawa region, and it was indeed -40C for a week where I live. My Jetta screaming "warning extreme cold!" at start, and the kitchen window thermometer I have doubly validate that. I'm also 20 minutes to downtown, outside of rush hour, so I stand by the ease of saying "Ottawa". No you don't get my address, but temperatures in cities and at airports are warmer than rural areas in winter. Where I live, I'm…

Dude, weather stations record actual temperatures both in and outside the city. Environment Canada peppers the whole province with them. There's nowhere in southern or eastern Ontario that gets as cold as -40C. It simply doesn't happen. -35C is the lower bound and that is extreme . I know this because I farm and grow grapes and have meticulously poured over weather charts for the whole province. (Survival cut off for…

And yet, it was colder than -40C.

I think you believe temperatures are far more homogeneous than they are. On my way home, 500M of road over a hill makes 35C turn into 31C.

And no, weather stations aren't everywhere. I think the nearest one is 20km away.

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#179

Post by xattt » Mon, Jun 29, 2026, 11:53 AM UTC

goopthink wrote: post #147

xattt wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me your linen ironing tricks. I have a linen shirt that I dread wearing because of the effort that goes into getting it wrinkle free after every wash.

Steam, not iron.

Sounds like I need some sort of Steam Machine.

Re: Reducing tick density along recreational trails in Ottawa, Canada

#180

Post by procaryote » Mon, Jun 29, 2026, 6:44 PM UTC

mantas wrote: post #164

procaryote wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TL;DR; antivaxers

Nope. This is key paragraph from the link: > The effects of vaccination on human behaviour presented yet another important uncertainty. Lyme vaccination, although it provides incomplete protection, may make individuals less likely to limit their exposure to ticks, which might actually increase their risk of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases (e.g. ehrlichiosis, babesiosis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever). That was a…

That's one consideration of a possible issue, not a key reason it was retracted

The "cautionary" part of the cautionary tale referred to in the article title is that a working vaccine was retracted mainly due to unfounded fears

e.g from the article summary "Just 3 years later, the manufacturer voluntarily withdrew its product from the market amidst media coverage, fears of vaccine side-effects, and declining sales. This paper reviews these events in detail and focuses on the public communication of risks and benefits of the Lyme vaccine and important lessons learned."

The "public communication of risks" not the actual risks.