The dying of the light: crepuscular activity in <i>Culicoides</i> and impact on light trap efficacy at temperate latitudes

Meiswinkel, R.; Elbers, A.R.W.

doi:10.1111/mve.12150

Cited by 25 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Midges are least active during the brightest hours of the day (Meiswinkel & Elbers, 2016), thus marking the period when horses can be aired and pastured most safely. However, during the day, frequent cloud cover and the associated drop in light intensity, will trigger midge activity, with the result that horses at pasture will nearly always need protective blankets, a hoodie, and leg bandages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In principle, this dress regimen should reduce Culicoides attacks on the horse, but to what extent remains to be tested experimentally. At more northerly latitudes, midges are most active during low-light conditions at dusk and dawn (Service, 1969;Gerry et al, 2008;Meiswinkel & Elbers, 2016), which thus form those periods of the day when the horse is most at risk and in need of protection. However, the absence of housing for approximately half of the horse population of The Netherlands, would render it impossible to exploit this 'dusk-and-dawn' bimodality to circumvent vector attacks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diel activity and preferred landing sites in Culicoides biting midges attacking Fjord horses

Elbers

Heuvel

Meiswinkel³

2016

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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In the summer of 2014, in the central part of The Netherlands, Culicoides spp. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) attack rates, biting rates, and preferred landing sites were determined for a pair of Fjord horses maintained permanently at pasture in an area devoid of cattle. Eleven body regions of the horses were screened for midges, each region sampled randomly for 5 min using a handheld mouth aspirator (pooter). Observations were confined to the hour immediately before and after sunset. Culicoides spp. were obtained from every body region, of which the four most abundant species -Culicoides chiopterus (Meigen), Culicoides punctatus (Meigen), the species complex Culicoides obsoletus (Meigen), and Culicoides dewulfi Goetghebuerall were proven or potential vectors for arboviral diseases in livestock. Culicoides spp. activity was distinctly bimodal across the day, surging at sunset and 1 h after sunrise. Midges were inactive between 11:00 and 16:00 hours, these hours marking the time of day when horses can be pastured most safely but, thereafter, to avoid escalating attacks, would have to be stabled protectively. Around sunset, the mean attack rate of the four most abundant species ranged from 3.0 to 11.7 midges per min; of these, C. dewulfi and C. chiopterus were reared out of the dung of experimental horses. The Netherlands is home to the world's densest horse population (11 per km 2 ), of which half are estimated to stay outdoors permanently with no access to protective housing. In the absence of a preventive vaccination policy, it is difficult to envisage how horses in northern Europe will be protected from infection during an outbreak of a Culicoides-transmitted disease like African horse sickness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diel activity and preferred landing sites in Culicoides biting midges attacking Fjord horses

Elbers

Heuvel

Meiswinkel³

2016

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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“…In the Netherlands, efficacy of light traps was compared with aerial sweeping, and correlated against light intensity (Meiswinkel and Elbers, 2016). C. chiopterus and C. obsoletus/C.…”

Section: Hours Of Attack and Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bluetongue: control, surveillance and safe movement of animals

Nielsen¹

2017

EFS2

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The performance of different bluetongue control measures related to both vaccination and protection from bluetongue virus (BTV) vectors was assessed. By means of a mathematical model, it was concluded that when vaccination is applied on 95% of animals even for 3 years, bluetongue cannot be eradicated and is able to re-emerge. Only after 5 years of vaccination, the infection may be close to the eradication levels. In the absence of vaccination, the disease can persist for several years, reaching an endemic condition with low level of prevalence of infection. Among the mechanisms for bluetongue persistence, the persistence in the wildlife, the transplacental transmission in the host, the duration of viraemia and the possible vertical transmission in vectors were assessed. The criteria of the current surveillance scheme in place in the EU for demonstration of the virus absence need revision, because it was highlighted that under the current surveillance policy bluetongue circulation might occur undetected. For the safe movement of animals, newborn ruminants from vaccinated mothers with neutralising antibodies can be considered protected against infection, although a protective titre threshold cannot be identified. The presence of colostral antibodies interferes with the vaccine immunisation in the newborn for more than 3 months after birth, whereas the minimum time after vaccination of animal to be considered immune can be up to 48 days. The knowledge about vectors ecology, mechanisms of over-wintering and criteria for the seasonally vector-free period was updated. Some Culicoides species are active throughout the year and an absolute vector-free period may not exist at least in some areas in Europe. To date, there is no evidence that the use of insecticides and repellents reduce the transmission of BTV in the field, although this may reduce host/vector contact. By only using pour-on insecticides, protection of animals is lower than the one provided by vector-proof establishments.

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“…Several publications have highlighted the discrepancy between Culicoides abundance data recorded with UV light traps and those data collected with host-baited traps [46][47][48], indicating that abundance data based on UV light traps could not used as a direct estimation of biting rate. However, Viennet et al [49,50] showed that UV light trap collections were linearly correlated to attack rates on animals for several Culicoides species.…”

Section: Sampling Methods For Biting Midges Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field sampling methods for mosquitoes, sandflies, biting midges and ticks

Medlock

Balenghien

Alten

et al. 2018

EFS3

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ECDC and EFSA have the mandate to assess the risk of infectious diseases affecting public and animal health and strengthen the capacity for their prevention and control in the EU. Vector-borne diseases, as a specific group of a (re-)emerging infections, pose a threat to European public health and require particular attention. One important aspect of preparedness for vector-borne diseases is the monitoring or surveillance of the introduction, establishment and spread of the main disease vectors. An efficient surveillance or monitoring campaign starts with the development of a well-considered sampling strategy. Depending on the target species, a range of sampling methods is available. This implies that different teams use different approaches and as operational vector sampling methods often lack standardisation, quantitative comparisons across different settings are very hard to make. This also implies that teams starting a disease surveillance project can get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of options and may end up choosing a strategy that is less than ideal to meet their objectives. Although some guidelines exist on the sampling of invasive and native mosquito species in Europe [1-3], there is no summary document on sampling strategies for the various vector species. In the framework of VectorNet, pan-European field campaigns were established to collect data on the presence/absence or seasonal distribution of mosquitoes, sandflies, biting midges and ticks. To standardise the efforts across different teams and to ensure comparable outcomes, a set of protocols were developed for every species group. These protocols describe a uniform way to sample specimens for the four above-mentioned groups. The protocols also describe the conservation of specimens, identification and quality control. Depending on the vector group, the protocols are subdivided according to activity (e.g. flying vs resting mosquitoes and sandflies), life stage (mosquitoes), or species (ticks). Each section describes in detail which traps should be used to meet specific study objectives, how to select a sampling site, when to sample and how long or how often, how to collect the samples, how to preserve them, how to identify them, and how to assess quality.

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The dying of the light: crepuscular activity in Culicoides and impact on light trap efficacy at temperate latitudes

Cited by 25 publications

References 29 publications

Diel activity and preferred landing sites in Culicoides biting midges attacking Fjord horses

Diel activity and preferred landing sites in Culicoides biting midges attacking Fjord horses

Bluetongue: control, surveillance and safe movement of animals

Field sampling methods for mosquitoes, sandflies, biting midges and ticks

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