Could someone please explain to me what real purpose ticks serve? Where I live, we have Deer Ticks, and this year they are thicker than usual. In a normal year, I will find one or two on me. In the past 24 hours I have found two on me. Luckily they had not dug in yet.

One of the benefits to the slick shave of the dogs, I can spot the ticks really quickly and get them off while they are still looking for some place to dig in, but there are just so many this year! For the life of me though, I have no clue what purpose they serve in the eco-system.