Comments on: “Weedy” mice dominate a warming world while other small mammals suffer

By: Braden

Braden — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:33:29 +0000

@Ed Yong

Your related post links seem to not be working. Sorry if you already know this.

[Grr - I hate those links. Fixed - Ed]

By: Holytape

Holytape — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:53:41 +0000

Well, we will just have to genetically engineer a ‘weedy’ cat to get rid of the ‘weedy’ mice, and a ‘weedy’ dog to get rid of the ‘weedy’ cats when they have finished their job…….

By: LKL

LKL — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:17:37 +0000

@ Brian and Brooks: my reaction, too.

By: southlakesmom

southlakesmom — Mon, 24 May 2010 11:28:38 +0000

I was going to post what Brian said…but got distracted. Lyme is a huge problem here in the DC area. But the worse threat are the other little microbes riding along, particularly babesiosis. One of my friends has spent the last several years going through chemotherapies to try to beat the infection without killing her first.

RonK – we rented a house once that had mice coming in. At the time my children were small and every darned book or children’s show had “cute little mice” so they thought dad and mom were horribly cruel to dislike the mice and try to catch them to get rid of them. Even the classic Redwall series has heroic mice!

By: RonK

RonK — Mon, 24 May 2010 10:10:12 +0000

@ brooks, Brian

But they’re so cuuuute! A small price for a few little deadly pathogens, no?

BTW, the linked PDF seems to claim that deer mice are losing out to white-footed mice as the investigated ecosystems have warmed up, and that’s not exactly what I understand Ed is claiming in this post (I get the impression from the post that deer mice are supposed to be the best adapters).

By: brooks

brooks — Mon, 24 May 2010 00:36:41 +0000

@Brian …and hanta and plague and all gods-know-what may come. wow!

By: Brian Schmidt

Brian Schmidt — Sun, 23 May 2010 20:17:23 +0000

Deer mice are important vectors for Lyme disease. While I anticipate that medical and technological development will eventually reduce Lyme disease incidence, this isn’t helpful.

By: brooks

brooks — Sun, 23 May 2010 19:47:22 +0000

“baited” in the first paragraph should read as “bated”, as in “to abate”.

otherwise: good article (as usual)! interesting, a little sad, and not altogether unsurprising.

[Fixed - Ed]