Oviposition strategies of temporary pool mosquitoes in relation to weather, tidal regime, and land use in a temperate wetland

CARDO MV; VEZZANI D; CARBAJO AE

BULLETIN OF ENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2012

0007-4853

Wetlands have traditionally been associated with harbouring mosquitoes, a wellknownnuisance and vectors of diseases. Within mosquito life cycle, oviposition is adeterminant event by shaping their individual fitness and vectorial capacity. Thestudy was conducted in one of the main temperate wetlands in South America. Weused Generalized Linear Models to study the relation between temperature,precipitation, tidal regime, land use, microenvironment, and the occurrence offloodwater (Ochlerotatus and Psorophora spp.) and raft-laying (Culex and Uranotaeniaspp.) mosquitoes using temporary pools as larval habitats. Pool occurrence wasnegatively associated with temperature, and positively related to precipitation andhigh tides. As regards the land use, it was lowest in domestic areas and plantations,intermediate in secondary forests, and highest in marshes. Each oviposition strategywas best modelled as a function of different environmental factors. The occurrence offloodwater mosquitoes was positively associated with high cumulative precipitationand low tide records. Raft-laying mosquitoes were related to low temperaturerecords, while the effect of flooding varied with the land use. In view of these results,physical (water inputs and movement), chemical, and biological (egg and larvalflushing, and predatory interactions) considerations are given to provide insight inthe oviposition patterns of mosquitoes occurring in this complex wetland. We finallypropose the generation of a tidal flow as a control measure against floodwatermosquitoes, which are the most anthropophilic in the study area.