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ARS Home » Research » Research Project #447693

Research Project: Mosquito Distributions and Seasonal Abundance

Location: Foreign Arthropod Borne Animal Disease Research

Project Number: 3022-32000-025-027-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Feb 1, 2025
End Date: Jan 31, 2028

Objective:
Mosquito species distributions for the significant disease vectors are well established in the United States. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus significant invasive species vectors that transmit flaviviruses such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses tend to move around, but are also targets of mosquito surveillance. Similarly, filariasis and orthobunya virus (Cache valley and Jamestown Canyon) mosquito vector species such as, Culex pipiens, Culex quinquefaciatus, and Culex tarsalis are also well understood. However, minor mosquito species that may play a primary or secondary role in virus transmission or maintenance are not well described. Therefore, if there was an introduction of an exotic virus such as Japanese encephalitis or Rift valley fever viruses to the United States, epidemiological risk models and management modeling as well as on the ground vector control, would be challenged to respond. Furthermore, if other viruses have minor mosquito transmission routes, such as vesicular stomatitis virus, knowing the distribution and seasonal abundance of minor mosquito species will be necessary to effectively respond to a viral introduction. Further compounding the mosquito distribution problem is the changing global climate and increased trade and travel between locations. This is leading to mosquito species becoming increasingly moved to new suitable habitats and changes to their geographic distributions. This project plans to map the distribution of all the major and minor mosquito species in the United States and record their annual seasonal abundance. Ecoregions are ecosystems where the climate, weather, vegetation, and habitats are similar, therefore the mosquito species composition and seasonal abundance are fairly consistent. There are 105 Level 3 Environmental Protection Agency defined ecoregions in the continental United States. This level of granularity will allow for accurate mathematical modeling and forecasting, epidemiological and risk studies, and regional mosquito management strategies. The mosquito species of interest are the major genera Culex, Aedes, and Anopheles as well as species Coquillettidia, Culiseta, Deinocerites, Haemagogus, Mansonia, Orthopodomyia, Psorophora, Uranotaenia, and Wyeomyia genera. The seasonal abundance of each of the mosquito species ideally by week in the United States will be established in each ecoregion which will map the species distributions by ecoregion rather than geopolitical boundaries and describe the seasonal abundance in each region.

Approach:
To collect mosquito species seasonal abundance data in each of the 105 ecoregions, the following steps are needed: 1. Identify which authority might have data in each ecoregion. 2. Determine if they have data and the quality of the data (which species and the sampling frequency). 3. Getting approval to obtain and use the data. 4. Standardize and curate the data. 5. Plans for acquiring data in the future. 6. Outreach with community and data providers. Possible data providing agencies include local and statewide surveillance systems. Some mosquito management districts and local government agencies at county or city levels collect mosquito data. Organizations such as the American Mosquito Control Association, the Entomological Society of America, National Association of County Health Officials, and various other organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Defense will also help identify contacts and contributors. All species of mosquitoes will be collected even if they are not known disease vectors. Similarly, the frequency of reporting, daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc, will be collected with the objective of getting a seasonal abundance curve for each ecoregion for each mosquito species. This will allow for comparisons of species abundance based on ecosystem parameters such as temperature and precipitation (collectively weather), geology, landforms, soils, vegetation, climate, land use, wildlife, and hydrology that are drive mosquito population distributions and abundance. Ideally at least one complete year is needed per species per ecoregion. Although various surveillance datasets may be used in each ecoregion, and it is not restricted by year of collection. After obtaining and curating the data, returning information to the data providers is key for long-term collaboration and participation in the program. Therefore it is important to have minimal information going to the providers each year. One can be a summary presentation in March at the American Mosquito Control Association Annual meeting, and six months later an article regarding the state of mosquito surveillance in the United States that would be published in a peer reviewed journal and made available to the stakeholders. These two data presentations will include an acknowledgement to all data contributors, a vector-borne disease report from the peer reviewed literature, the new species records, and help the contributors publish their findings. Ultimately it is vital that feedback is provided to the contributors.