Study area
The study focused on a 4.0-hectare area at Murbach (47°55’03 N, 07°08’46 E; average altitude of 630 m) in Guebwiller valley, Alsace, which is the region where most of the human cases of TBEV have been reported in the last two decades (Hansmann et al., 2006) and where the virus was isolated from questing ticks in 2010 (unpublished data). The site is covered by mixed forests classified as Asperulo-Fagetum beech forests, with a predominance of Fagus sylvatica beech andAbies alba European silver fir.