Environmental suitability for Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus and the spatial distribution of major arboviral infections in Mexico

Abstract

BackgroundThis paper discusses a comparative geographic distribution of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes in Mexico, using environmental suitability modeling and reported cases of arboviral infections.MethodsUsing presence-only records, we modeled mosquito niches to show how much they influenced the distribution of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus based on mosquito records collected at the municipality level. Mosquito surveillance data were used to create models regarding the predicted suitability of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti mosquitos in Mexico.ResultsAe. albopictus had relatively a better predictive performance (area under the curve, AUC = 0.87) to selected bioclimatic variables compared to Ae. aegypti (AUC = 0.81). Ae. aegypti were more suitable for areas with minimum temperature of coldest month (Bio6, permutation importance 28.7%) −6 °C to 21.5 °C, cumulative winter growing degree days (GDD) between 40 and 500, and precipitation of wettest month (Bio13) >8.4 mm. Minimum temperature range of the coldest month (Bio6) was −6.6 °C to 20.5 °C, and average precipitation of the wettest month (Bio13) 8.9 mm ~ 600 mm were more suitable for the existence of Ae. albopictus. However, arboviral infections maps prepared from the 2012–2016 surveillance data showed cases were reported far beyond predicted municipalities.ConclusionsThis study identified the urgent necessity to start surveillance in 925 additional municipalities that reported arbovirus infections but did not report Aedes mosquito.

Dispersal patterns and population genetic structure of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in three different climatic regions of China

“…Numerous previous studies have discussed the effects of environmental variations on Ae. albopictus populations, mainly based on their influence on mosquito abundance, survival, size, fecundity and competence for certain arboviruses [ 11 – 15 ]. However, less research has focused on changes in the genetic diversity and population structure of Ae.…”

Dispersal patterns and population structure of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in three different climatic regions of China

“…Numerous previous studies have discussed the effects of environmental variations on Ae. albopictus populations, mainly based on their in uence on mosquito abundance, survival, size, fecundity, and competence for certain arboviruses [11][12][13][14][15]. However, less research has focused on changes in the genetic diversity and population structure of Ae.…”

“…albopictus have been successfully isolated and employed in Ae. albopictus population studies on a global scale, and they continue to be a popular choice of genetic marker [15,[28][29][30]. Simultaneously and independently from Ae.…”

Modelling the Putative Ancient Distribution of the Coastal Rock Pool MosquitoAedes togoi

“…The minimum temperature of the coldest month is an important environmental variable for the habitat of other Aedes spp. (Melaun et al 2015, Lubinda et al 2019, and another measure of cold tolerance, the mean temperature of the coldest quarter, was found to be important for Ae. togoi habitat suitability in North America (Peach et al 2019).…”