Controlling Japanese Barberry Helps Stop Spread of Tick-Borne Diseases
Posted: July 30, 2012
A nature-themed drama is unfolding in a corner of the UConn Forest in Storrs. The story contains elements of surprise as well as a glimpse of the region’s agrarian past.
Tom Worthley, assistant extension professor, strips a shoot from a Barberry bush, revealing a distinctive yellow interior. (Ariel Dowski '14 (CLAS)/UConn Photo)
By: Sheila Foran, UConn Today, University of Connecticut
The protagonist in the drama is the invasive Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii), and Tom Worthley, assistant extension professor in the Department of Extension in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, provides a couple of interesting twists in the plot as he explains why eliminating the pest will also help control the spread of the tick-borne diseases of Lyme, granulocytic anaplasmosis, and babesiosis.
