Adaptations Strategies for Tick Control in the Face of Climate Change

Ticks (Arthropoda: Acari), being poikilothermic, are susceptible to climatic and weather conditions. Climate change (CC) directly affects the distribution of ticks by boosting their survivability through increasing temperature. CC can also affect the hosts’ resilience and ability to cope with tick infestations and tick-borne diseases (TBDs). Ticks due to their physiological adaptations have a greater ability to transmit diseases as compared to other arthropod vectors. Integrated tick management is a sustainable strategy that combines various control methods to reduce tick populations and the risks of TBDs. Vegetation management, application of acaricides, and reduction of susceptible host population significantly reduce the threat of ticks and TBDs. Biological control agents such as fungi, entomopathogenic nematodes, parasitoids, and predators can also be applied for tick suppression. Chemical control methods remain the corner stone for the developing countries; however, acaricidal resistance is also becoming a challenge. Adopting an integrated approach including tick surveillance, preventive management, biological control methods, and possibly immunization can be advisable. Biomarkers derived from tick saliva aid in effective modern surveillance of TBDs and their control. Periodic active and passive surveillance preferably through engaging the stakeholders involving participatory methods, can be effective for risk assessment of ticks and TBDs which can help planning appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies in preview of the changing climate. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.