Planning Development to Reduce Mosquito Hazard in Coastal Peri-Urban Areas: Case Studies in NSW, Australia

Abstract

In this chapter we take a multidisciplinary approach to evaluating planning for coastal development, particularly in peri-urban areas. We consider ecosystem services and disservices and how, in the past, much development was at the expense of coastal wetlands. We then focus on mosquito production as a wetland related disservice that affects residents and imposes costs on individuals and government from both a health and management perspective. Most coastal peri-urban areas including adjacent wetland sites retain legacy infrastructures and landforms that degrade wetland function and often exacerbate the mosquito hazard. Rehabilitating coastal wetlands can improve wetland function while also reducing the mosquito hazard. Yet examination of rehabilitation and mosquito management within the existing planning framework found defi ciencies and complexity. In particular, coastal wetlands are almost always overlaid with a number of different zone and ownership boundaries that increase complexity of both mosquito management and wetland rehabilitation actions. We illustrate the issues with two case studies from northern New South Wales (NSW), Australia: a greenfi eld development located in Ballina and a retrofi tted site at Banora Point near Tweed Heads. We recommend land use planning frameworks incorporate a trigger for both assessment of adjacent coastal wetland ecosystem function and restoration of wetland ecological processes that includes provision for habitat based source control of mosquito hazard and coastal wetland rehabilitation.

Integrating statistical and mechanistic approaches with biotic and environmental variables improves model predictions of the impact of climate and land-use changes on future mosquito-vector abundance, diversity and distributions in Australia

“…albopictus off the mainland [ 65 , 66 ]. However, in Queensland and New South Wales, financial constraints continue to limit the ability of authorities to control the spread of endemic mosquitoes as the cost of doing so has been increasing from AU$7 to AU$11 million per year between 1993 and 2004 [ 4 , 5 ], to above AU$20 million per year by 2014 [ 67 ]. Even an Ae.…”

What Happens on Islands, doesn’t Stay on Islands: Patterns of Synchronicity in Mosquito Nuisance and Host-Seeking Activity between a Mangrove Island and Adjacent Coastal Development

“…This is particularly evident around southeast Australia's metropolitan centers where the agreeable climate and access to coastal recreational activities are highly attractive (Stimson and Minnery, 1998). The emphasis on continued growth in this region has resulted in the encroachment of human dwellings into marginal coastal wetlands and saltmarshes areas (Dwyer et al, 2016;Ramasamy and Surendran, 2012). This encroachment has resulted in a predictable increase in complaints of biting nuisance by the residents of these new developments (Ryan et al, 2006).…”

“…Local and state governments attempt to address mosquito issues by implementing control measures, planning strategies and development guidelines that aim to reduce contact with mosquitoes and while adhering to environmental law and the need to conserve coastal ecosystems (Dwyer et al, 2016;Russell, 1998;Tomerini et al, 2011). The majority of efforts and resources are allocated to area-wide larval control programs and the physical management of natural habitats to reduce mosquito productivity (Dale and Breitfuss, 2009;Dale and Knight, 2006;Russell and Kay, 2004).…”

Further Evidence that Development and Buffer Zones Do Little To Reduce Mosquito Nuisance from Neighboring Habitat

“…Mosquito nuisance and the threat of disease is often given little consideration by urban planners, despite considerable research on the topic and the substantial costs to individuals and government (Dale 2010, Medlock and Vaux 2015, Dwyer et al 2016. In the Australian southeast, a major source of mosquito nuisance in coastal developments is uninhabited islands dominated by a mixture of mangrove and saltmarsh habitat favorable to highly vagile Aedes vigilax (Skuse) (Knight et al 2012).…”

“…This suggests that green space does not serve as a significant population sink for dispersing saltmarsh mosquitoes and that the incorporation of open-space buffer zones will do little to reduce nuisance from such species. However, further study is needed, since buffer zones may have some utility against other potential RRV vectors (Jansen et al 2019) associated with brackish/ freshwater swamps such as Verrallina funerea (Theobald) that disperse relatively short distances (,1 km; Dwyer et al 2016). It is therefore imperative that the mitigation strategies proposed by urban planners are empirically informed and guided by local and regional mosquito ecologists and control professionals.…”