Fig. 1

Theoretical considerations about the discrepancy between real conditions and what is represented by collected data. Expected missing reality as a result of complex, ecological interrelations (a, b) and what we actually capture with our measurement concepts (c, d) using the example of relative humidity conditions in a tick population’s forest habitat. Graph (a) presents a fictive case of the RH conditions ticks were exposed to different situations and highlights water losses (orange) if the humidity falls below a threshold of 85% RH. In contrast, (c) illustrates the RH data normally used in tick research, which differ strongly from conditions shown in (a) Graphs (b) and (d) illustrate comparable disparities looking at the tick data; (b) gives an impression about the natural discrepancy between the amount of living and active ticks in a habitat, while (d) addresses the methodological discrepancy between active and the number of sampled ticks