Effectiveness of integrated Aedes albopictus management in southern Switzerland

Ravasi, Damiana; Monton, D. Parrondo; Tanadini, Matteo; Flacio, Eleonora

doi:10.1186/s13071-021-04903-2

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The region around Balerna is characterised by sunny, dry winters, spring and autumn with periods of northern foehn wind with occasional heavy snow-and rainfall, and sunny summers with violent downpours. The landscape features foothills and typical components of Lombard agriculture (Ravasi et al, 2021). Balerna and the surrounding areas are within the normal breeding range of the tiger mosquito in southern Switzerland, as confirmed by long-term studies (Flacio et al, 2015).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 65%

“…Current management plans in Canton Ticino and much of Europe focus on removal of breeding sites, larvicide applications, and occasionally adulticide applications (Bellini et al, 2020;Flacio et al, 2015). While UNFO-PLS devices cannot eliminate the use of larvicides in mosquito pest management strategies, it could be a very useful complementary tool to be used in public and private spaces to help reduce the population of container-breeding mosquitoes (Ravasi et al, 2021). For instance, it could be highly beneficial in areas where it is difficult and timeconsuming to apply biocides, which can lead to inconsistent application.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and/or larvicidal treatments, while adult traps and/ Evaluation of the manhole physical pest management system UNFO-PLS for mosquito control in southern Switzerland or adulticidal treatments can affect the adult phase (Bellini et al, 2020;Flacio et al, 2015). There is no single solution, but the combination of different strategies can lead to its containment (Ravasi et al, 2021). One difficulty with any control system is that the mosquitoes are present on both private and public lands, and therefore it is necessary to protect both areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of the manhole physical pest management system UNFO-PLS for mosquito control in southern Switzerland

Monton

Würsch

Tanadini³

et al. 2023

JEMC

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The expanding distribution of the Aedes albopictus mosquito (also known as the Asian tiger mosquito) throughout Europe is a health and safety threat due to its potential to spread tropical and sub-tropical arboviruses to temperate climate regions. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to broaden the use of all tools within integrated pest management systems to control this threat. Since this mosquito species in Europe breeds mainly in manhole drains, managing them is therefore essential. The UNFO-Pest Lock System (UNFO-PLS) mechanical control device fits in siphoned manholes and prevents mosquitoes from entering the manhole and breeding in the water below. We tested and quantified the efficacy of these UNFO-PLS devices against standard control manholes (no mechanical devices attached) in Balerna, Switzerland (Canton Ticino). Weekly counts of five developmental stages (larval stages L1-L4 and the pupal stage) were conducted at 12 experimental and 12 standard control manholes during the mosquito breeding and activity periods of 2020 and 2021. For each developmental stage, we compared the counts of mosquitoes in manholes fitted with and without the UNFO-PLS devices using generalised mixed-effect models. Results show that these devices reduced the presence of mosquitoes at all developmental stages between 92.6-97.2%. The use of the UNFO-PLS mechanical control device, or similar devices, should be considered for use in integrated mosquito pest management plans, especially in places that might present challenges for maintaining adequate larvicide applications, such as around schools and secondary homes.

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Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of the manhole physical pest management system UNFO-PLS for mosquito control in southern Switzerland

Monton

Würsch

Tanadini³

et al. 2023

JEMC

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“…All the raw observations were already used to perform other analyses and publications (e.g. Tran et al, 2013;Tisseuil et al, 2018;Romiti et al, 2021;Da Re et al, 2022;Lencioni et al, 2023, Ravasi et al, 2021), and the observations collected from 65 ovitraps over 6 municipalities in Albania during 2020-2022 were already made available in Miranda et al (2022). The procedure of temporal downscaling and spatial aggregation did not alter the observed seasonal pattern of Ae.…”

Section: Technical Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

VectAbundance: a spatio-temporal database of vector observations

Da Re,

Marini,

Bonannella

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Modelling approaches play a crucial role in supporting local public health agencies by estimating and forecasting vector abundance and seasonality. However, the reliability of these models is contingent on the availability of standardized, high-quality data. Addressing this need, our study focuses on collecting and harmonizing egg count observations of Aedes albopictus, obtained through ovitraps in monitoring and surveillance efforts across Albania, France, Italy, and Switzerland from 2010 to 2022. We processed the raw observations to obtain a continuous time series of ovitraps observations allowing for an extensive geographical and temporal coverage of Ae. albopictus population dynamics. The resulting post-processed observations are stored in the open-access database VectAbundance, currently hosting data for Ae. albopictus. Future database releases may include observational data for other medically significant vectors, such as the common house mosquito Culex pipiens or the tick Ixodes ricinus. This initiative addresses the critical need for accessible, high-quality data, enhancing the reliability of modelling efforts and bolstering public health preparedness.

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“…Another potential source of variability in the training dataset is the effect of vector control practices affecting the abundance of collected eggs. Pest control agencies act to limit the abundance of the species and reduce the nuisance the bites are causing to the population (Ravasi et al, 2021). Unfortunately, this is an effect that we cannot control, as we do not have access to the location and period of each pest containment treatment carried out in the area and period of interest.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferring the seasonal dynamics and abundance of an invasive species using a spatio-temporal stacked machine learning model

Da Re,

Marini,

Bonannella

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Various modelling techniques are available to understand the temporal and spatial variations of the phenology of species. Scientists often rely on correlative models, which establish a statistical relationship between a response variable (such as species abundance or presence-absence) and a set of predominantly abiotic covariates. The modelling approach choice, i.e. the algorithm, is a crucial factor for addressing the multiple sources of variability that can lead to disparate outcomes when different models are applied to the same dataset. This inter-model variability has led to the adoption of ensemble modelling techniques, among which stacked generalisation, which has recently demonstrated its capacity to produce robust results. Stacked ensemble modelling incorporates predictions from multiple base learners or models as inputs for a meta-learner. The meta-learner, in turn, assimilates these predictions and generates a final prediction by combining the information from all the base learners. In our study, we utilized a recently published dataset documenting egg abundance observations of Aedes albopictus collected using ovitraps. This dataset spans various locations in southern Europe, covering four countries - Albania, France, Italy, and Switzerland - and encompasses multiple seasons from 2010 to 2022. Utilising these ovitrap observations and a set of environmental predictors, we employed a stacked machine learning model to forecast the weekly average number of mosquito eggs. This approach enabled us to i) unearth the seasonal dynamics of Ae. albopictus for 12 years; ii) generate spatio-temporal explicit forecasts of mosquito egg abundance in regions not covered by conventional monitoring initiatives. Beyond its immediate application for public health management, our work presents a versatile modelling framework adaptable to infer the spatio-temporal abundance of various species, extending its relevance beyond the specific case of Ae. albopictus.

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Effectiveness of integrated Aedes albopictus management in southern Switzerland

Cited by 9 publications

References 25 publications

Evaluation of the manhole physical pest management system UNFO-PLS for mosquito control in southern Switzerland

Evaluation of the manhole physical pest management system UNFO-PLS for mosquito control in southern Switzerland

VectAbundance: a spatio-temporal database of vector observations

Inferring the seasonal dynamics and abundance of an invasive species using a spatio-temporal stacked machine learning model

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