Tick and Vector-borne Disease Expansion with Climate Change

We live in a rapidly changing world. Human activities, notably deforestation and burning of fossil fuels, have altered the composition of Earth’s atmosphere and contributed to the “greenhouse effect” to which the current global warming trend is attributed. Without a global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, climate change will continue and accelerate over the coming decades. Average temperatures are rising, precipitation patterns are altered, and extreme weather events, including drought and floods, are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. The rationale for a link between climate change and vector-borne diseases is clear due to the sensitivity of arthropod life cycles to temperature and precipitation. However, the effects of climate change on vector-borne diseases of zoo and wild animals are also inextricably linked to other anthropogenic threats and drivers of disease emergence that cumulatively impact animal, human, and ecosystem health.