Fig. 1

The distribution map showing the estimated questing tick densities in both study areas. The model used for predicting the distribution is presented in Table 1. The sampling transects are illustrated as pink dots, and predicted tick numbers collected with the flagging method in May are presented with colours, from green (low density) through yellow to red (high density). The map has a cut-off at 700 m a.s.l., and 68 km from the closest sea water body to avoid extrapolation outside the data range. Areas outside the data range are white. The grey map illustrates the locations of the two study areas in southern Norway