Integration of a Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus and Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Lato Into Mountain Ecosystems, Following a Shift in the Altitudinal Limit of Distribution of Their Vector, Ixodes Ricinus (Krkonose Mountains, Czech Republic) (Report‪)‬

Introduction One of the reasons for the increased occurrence of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in the Czech Republic in the middle of the 1990s was the spread of this disease to new areas caused by the spread of its vector, the tick Ixodes ricinus to higher altitudes. The former limit of its occurrence was at 700-750 m above sea level (a.s.l.), which was determined in the 1950s (Rosicky 1954, Cerny et al. 1965) and confirmed in the 1980s (Daniel et al. 1988). The occurrence of TBE among residents of mountain village at an altitude of 900 m a.s.l. in Sumava Mts. and the subsequent detection of I. ricinus ticks at an altitude of 1080 m a.s.l. (Daniel et al. 2003) were the basis for a long-term study of the colonization of mountain habitats by this tick in the Krkonose Mts. (Giant Mts.) (Materna et al. 2008). These mountains were chosen for investigationbecause they are the highest mountains in the Czech Republic, and as the first high mountain range (Snezka 1603 m) in the Central Europe, it is greatly influenced from the north-west and west by Atlantic air flow, and is thus characterized by a very inclement climate. A field experiment was performed here in the 1980s to determine the altitudinal limit of the entire developmental cycle of I. ricinus tick (Daniel 1993). Simultaneously, these three-host ticks were examined for the presence of the pathogens of the most commonly transmitted infections, TBE virus (TBEV) and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), the occurrence of which had been preliminarily registered (Danielova et al. 2006, 2008b). We are trying to apply our long-term continuous study (2002-2008) to demonstrate how the vector and the transmitted pathogens are habituating as an integral part of the local ecosystem.