Climatic variability and landscape heterogeneity impact urban mosquito diversity and vector abundance and infection
Urban habitat heterogeneity can modify interactions across species and lead to spatially fine grained differences in b-diversity patterns and their associated ecosystem services. Here, we study the impacts of landscape heterogeneity and climatic variability on: (1) the richness and diversity patte...
| Autores Principales: | HAMER, GABRIEL L., WALKER, EDWARD D., BROWN, WILLIAM M., RUIZ, MARILYN O., KITRON, URIEL D., Chaves, Luis Fernando |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
| Idioma: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Ecosphere
2022
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: |
http://hdl.handle.net/11056/23092 https://doi.org/10.1890/es11-00088.1 |
| Sumario: |
Urban habitat heterogeneity can modify interactions across species and lead to spatially fine
grained differences in b-diversity patterns and their associated ecosystem services. Here, we study the
impacts of landscape heterogeneity and climatic variability on: (1) the richness and diversity patterns of
mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and (2) the abundance and West Nile virus infection rate of the house
mosquito, Culex pipiens, in Chicago, USA. We conducted a four year long study (2005–2008) in 8 sites that
captured a gradient of urban heterogeneities. We found a total of 19 mosquito species, a representative
sample of mosquito species richness in the area, according to both model estimation (Chao2 6 S.E. ¼ 20.50
6 2.29) and faunal records for Chicago. We found that heterogeneity in the landscape was the best
predictor of both mosquito species richness and diversity, with the most heterogeneous landscapes
harboring the largest number of species. In general there were no changes in species richness over the years
that could be associated with weather patterns and climatic variability (WPCV). In contrast, changes in
diversity were associated with WPCV. Our results also showed that WPCV had major impacts on house
mosquito abundance and West Nile virus mosquito infection rate (MIR) patterns. Although MIR was
independent of mosquito diversity, it was associated with overall mosquito abundance, which had a
convex association with species richness (i.e., abundance increases to a point after which it decreases as
function of species richness). Finally, our results highlight the importance of considering dominant vector
species as part of a community of vectors, whose biodiversity patterns can directly or indirectly impact the
risk of infectious disease transmission. |
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