Measuring Mosquito Diversity Patterns in an Amazonian Terra Firme Rain Forest

Abstract

We reanalyzed a dataset consisting of approximately 10,700 crepuscular and night-biting female mosquitoes (Culicidae) collected over 12 mo in the canopy and understorey of primary Amazonian rain forest. We investigate whether vertical habitat stratification and rainfall modified major ecological parameters of this mosquito ensemble, combining descriptive and hypothesis-testing statistics with species richness and diversity metrics in the analyses. A total of 31 species was recorded. Contrary to expectations, the host-seeking mosquito fauna was less diverse in the forest canopy than in the understorey. In particular, species diversity and evenness were higher in understorey samples, whereas species richness estimates were similar in both habitats. Only two out of 12 species tested for vertical stratification were clearly acrodendrophilic, and five preferred understorey habitats. The mosquito fauna was more diverse in the rainy than in the dry season. We propose the hypothesis that female mosquito density and host defensive behavior may promote host seeking in nonpreferred habitats by acrodendrophilic mosquito species. These results may be particularly relevant for understanding the dynamics of Plasmodium malariae/brasilianum and arboviral infections in Amazonian forested landscapes.

Ecological aspects of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in the gallery forest of Brasilia National Park, Brazil, with an emphasis on potential vectors of yellow fever

“…janthinomys, were captured on the ground; these results are similar to those of Alencar et al 28 and Ramirez et al 29 . These results indicate that precipitation is a crucial factor explaining the richness and abundance of Culicidae fauna in the gallery forests of the Cerrado, as has already been observed in other Brazilian biomes 8,30,31 .…”

“…serratus showed signifi cant differences in habitat use and were more abundant on the ground. The same preference for these species to occur at ground level has also been observed by Fe et al 53 , Forattini et al 51 , Guimaraes et al 52 and Julião et al 30 . Moreover, the highest occurrence of Ps.…”

“…cruzii captured at different periods of the day, with the highest number of specimens found in the canopy at night. Therefore, the vertical movement of mosquitoes can weaken the evidence of vertical stratifi cation of species, and it obviously infl uences the dynamics of pathogen transmission 30 . The effects of rainfall on the total abundance of mosquitoes captured were evident.…”

Climatic variability and landscape heterogeneity impact urban mosquito diversity and vector abundance and infection

“…The importance of understanding mosquito biodiversity in cities is two-fold: as a model to study general questions on the processes driving biodiversity patterns across ecosystems (Eisen et al 2008, Gleiser and Zalazar 2010, Julião et al 2010, and because little if any attention has been given to the potential role of mosquito biodiversity as associated with reductions in the entomological risk of disease transmission (Schäfer et al 2004, Yasuoka and Levins 2007, Ferguson et al 2010. Our study shows that mosquito species richness and diversity are a function of landscape heterogeneity.…”

Variación temporal de la abundancia de mosquitos (Diptera: Culicidae) en el Bosque Atlántico subtropical de Brasil

“…Other studies point to the positive relationship between high temperatures and the abundance of some species of mosquitoes (Vieira et al 2020). They also reveal that in tropical areas the seasonality of rainfall may be the main factor of variation in the composition and structure of mosquito communities (Julião et al 2010).…”