Weather and landscape factors associated with adult mosquito abundance in southwestern Georgia, U.S.A.

Abstract

Mosquito community composition and population dynamics were compared to weather variables and land use/cover data during 2008 to determine which variables affected population dynamics at the J.W. Jones Ecological Research Center in southwestern Georgia. Models relating adult mosquito distributions to weather variables and time of year were compared using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) model selection. Precipitation, temperature, humidity, and KeetchByram Drought Index were important factors correlated with mosquito abundance or presence/absence for the species considered. A cluster analysis, which grouped eight sites based on the percentages of land use/cover and hydric soils located in a 1-km radius surrounding collection sites, and an indicator species analysis were used to investigate the associations among 11 mosquito species and sites with similar land use/cover. Aedes albopictus (Skuse), Culex coronator Dyar & Knab, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, and Culex salinarius Coquillett were associated with sites that had the most anthropogenic influence, while Coquillettidia perturbans (Walker) and Psorophora ferox (von Humboldt) were associated with natural land cover such as wetlands and forested land. This study demonstrates that regional climate and land use/cover data can be predictive of the population dynamics of certain mosquito populations and is the first to examine how the distribution of Cx. coronator adults relate to land use/cover in the southeastern United States. Journal of Vector Ecology 36 (2): 269-278. 2011.

Mapping of Aedes albopictus Abundance at a Local Scale in Italy

“…Furthermore, several studies conducted worldwide on land use effect demonstrated a strong affinity of Ae. albopictus for urbanized and anthropized environments [10,16,19,22,23].…”

“…Previous studies have shown that urban areas, open agricultural areas, and forested areas affected Ae. albopictus presence [10,16,23,41].…”

“…albopictus distribution, even though Ae. albopictus population is strongly associated with urbanized areas [4,10,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Nutrient Enrichment Affects Immature Mosquito Abundance and Species Composition in Field-Based Mesocosms in the Coastal Plain of Georgia

“…In addition to their nuisance blood-feeding behavior, adult mosquitoes in Georgia and other areas of the southeastern United States are vectors of important human and livestock pathogens, including West Nile virus (WNV), eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV), and La Crosse encephalitis virus (LACV; Buckner et al 2011, Lance-Parker et al 2002. Various land use changes can inßuence mosquito community composition (Leisnham et al 2004, Muturi et al 2006, Reiter and Lapointe 2007, zharvJohnson et al 2008, Botello et al 2013) and subsequent changes in disease transmission patterns (Patz et al 2000, Norris, 2004, DeGroote et al 2008, including an increase in WNV incidence (DeGroote et al 2008).…”

“…The suitability of a mosquito breeding site depends on complex interactions of abiotic factors such as precipitation, temperature, humidity, and soil moisture (Buckner et al 2011), in addition to biotic factors such as competition (Reiskind and Wilson 2008), predation (Chase and Shulman 2009), and food availability (Blaustein and Kotler 1993, Walker et al 1997, Palik et al 2006, Yee and Juliano 2006. For example, the addition of nutrients from runoff containing chemical fertilizer or livestock waste can raise levels of bacteria in the water column in agricultural wetlands in the Gulf Coastal Plain of Georgia (Atkinson et al 2011).…”