Sensing in motion: the active tick

Abstract

The sensory biology of ticks has received comparatively little attention, despite their major importance as disease vectors. Recent findings challenge the view of ticks as passive followers of host cues and instead reveal that they actively shape how sensory information is acquired. By adjusting posture, foreleg position, and questing height, ticks regulate stimulus exposure and generate feedback that modulates ongoing behavior. This perspective highlights host-seeking as a dynamic process shaped by environmental context and internal state rather than by cue presence alone. Here, we synthesize emerging evidence from behavior, physiology, and sensory energetics to introduce an active-sensing perspective on tick biology and outline how feedback-driven sensory control influences host encounters, habitat use, and vector competence.

Keywords: active sensing; climate adaptation; host–parasite interactions; sensorimotor feedback; tick sensory ecology.