The Nuisance Mosquito Anopheles plumbeus (Stephens, 1828) in Germany—A Questionnaire Survey May Help Support Surveillance and Control

Abstract

The mosquito species Anopheles plumbeus is an aggressive biter and a potential vector of malaria parasites and West Nile virus. It occurs naturally at low population densities, as its larval development is adapted to the specific water qualities found in tree holes. However, probably owing to environmental changes, it has recently been observed in several European countries to use increasingly often artificial breeding habitats that may lead to mass development and severe annoyance to humans living close by. The perception of mosquito nuisance, however, is very subjective, and breeding habitats are not always known, thus impeding targeted surveillance and control. To relate nuisance by An. plumbeus to specific environmental conditions, a questionnaire survey was carried out addressing persons who had submitted specimens of this particular mosquito species to the German citizen science project “Mueckenatlas”, an instrument of passive mosquito surveillance. The questionnaire was intended to find out whether a nuisance situation linked to An. plumbeus had existed, whether mosquito breeding habitats could be identified and whether control measures had been conducted. Despite some efforts, the participants who claimed to suffer from an An. plumbeus nuisance problem had rarely identified the source of the mosquitoes. Once control measures had been performed on abandoned manure pits, however, the nuisance problem disappeared or mosquito abundance was at least significantly reduced. Nevertheless, no significant effect of abandoned manure pits on the probability of an An. plumbeus nuisance could be demonstrated in a multivariate logistic regression model testing various variables. Instead, a significant positive effect of a disused farm nearby was found. The reason is probably that manure pits as the most frequent source of An. plumbeus mass development are often located on disused farms, without most people’s knowledge about their existence. Disused farms are therefore appropriate candidates to consider when it comes to public health issues connected to An. plumbeus such as surveillance of mass development and implementation of control measures.

The Known Unknowns: What Citizen Science Projects in Germany Know about Their Volunteers—And What They Don’t Know

“…(However, we would like to point out that we have not carried out a systematic evaluation of project reports or documentation.) In the following, we present exemplarily four German case studies and focus on gender and educational status: in the survey of the "German Mosquito Atlas" project, 118 out of 150 people took part in a survey (78.6%), of which 67.9% were male and 32.1% female, and 50.90% with high school graduation [26]. In the accompanying research for the citizen science scheme "Insects of Saxony", the response rate in 2018 was 57.4% (N = 116), of which 71.6% were male and 26.7% female, with an average age of 52.3 years and 70% with an academic degree [27].…”

“…However, we see two main difficulties: the representativeness and the time factor. Even though response rates in accompanying research seem to be quite high overall [19,[26][27][28], these data represent self-selected samples and provide only a limited picture of the diversity of the participants. The data support the image of male and well-educated participants.…”

Knowledge on exotic mosquitoes in Germany, and public acceptance and effectiveness of Bti and two self-prepared insecticides against Aedes japonicus japonicus

“…In our study, more than 50% of grave attendants and gardeners will or will perhaps apply the suggested substances for mosquito control as private persons. In Germany, questionnaire surveys helped in identification of Anopheles plumbeus breeding sites and subsequently improved the efficiency of expert-based monitoring activities, albeit respondents were not efficient in identifying potential breeding habitats of this species on their residential yards 55 . Thus, preventive removal of breeding habitats by private persons may be difficult due to unidentified containers and likely requires extensive training.…”

Monitoring mosquito nuisance for the development of a citizen science approach for malaria vector surveillance in Rwanda

“…Passive surveillance through citizen-science is a tool to track mosquito presence and spread, such as of Aedes albopictus , a potential vector of dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses [ 6 , 7 ]. Studies carried out in The Netherlands and Spain showed that citizens provided scientifically valuable information through questionnaires and through sending mosquito samples to laboratories in charge of mosquito identification.…”