CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Mosquitoes are of major public health importance throughout the world. Recently, there has been an increase in mosquitoborne diseases some of which are newly emerging, and some are remerging. Chemical control remains the main approach to reducing mosquito vector populations, therefore mitigating the transmission and spread of mosquito-borne diseases. Urban land uses have been identifed as highly productive for container mosquitoes and thus require vector control interventions. In this study, we compared the efectiveness of the larvicide trifumuron in controlling mosquito vectors in households, cemeteries and tire shops and assessed its potential impact on non-target dipterans in urban temperate Argentina. On average, treatment with trifumuron reduced the occurrence of Aedes aegypti by 81% and Culex pipiens by 45%, with no significantdiferences among land uses. Two-thirds of the containers with these two mosquito species also harbored at least one nontarget dipteran species (other Culicidae, Chironomidae, Psychodidae, Ceratopogonidae, Phoridae, Ephydridae, Syrphidae and Sciomyzidae). Trifumuron application also had unintended efects on non-target dipteran communities, resulting in reduced richness and diversity across all land uses, as well as a reduced density of individuals in tire shops. Trifumuron proved highly efective against Ae. aegypti and moderately efective against Cx. pipiens regardless of land-use patterns. However, unwanted efects against some non-target accompanying Diptera fauna were also recorded, suggesting a severe limitation for the use of this larvicide in areas where biodiversity conservation is of paramount importance. Preserving biodiversity and human welfare must be a primary goal in the search for better vector control measures.

enviar mensaje