UNIC study warns climate change fuels tick-borne threats to Mediterranean livestock

A recent scientific review by Panagiotis Karanis, Professor of Anatomy at the UNIC Medical School, in collaboration with researchers from Greece and Turkey, highlights how climate change is creating compounded challenges for livestock systems in the Mediterranean.
The study shows that climatic pressures are simultaneously increasing livestock’s physiological stress while accelerating the spread of ticks and tick-borne diseases.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Entomologia Generalis, the review synthesises current knowledge on the interconnected effects of climate change on tick ecology and livestock sustainability within the Mediterranean basin, a region particularly vulnerable to environmental and epidemiological shifts.
Commenting on the study, Professor Panagiotis Karanis said: ‘Our paper shows that rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events are reducing water availability and forage quality while increasing heat stress in livestock. These pressures undermine productivity, reproduction, and animal welfare. At the same time, warmer conditions are extending the seasonal activity of ticks, speeding up their life cycles, and enabling them to expand into new regions, thereby amplifying disease transmission and economic losses for farmers.’
To address these growing risks, the researchers call for a move away from reactive, chemical-heavy disease control toward integrated, climate-adaptive strategies. Recommended solutions include early warning surveillance, improved pasture management, targeted vector control, and adoption of climate-resilient livestock husbandry practices.
Panagiotis Karanis, Professor of Anatomy at the UNIC Medical School