Abstract
Dispersal is a critical life history behavior for mosquitoes and is important for the spread of mosquito-borne disease. We implemented the first stable isotope mark-capture study to measure mosquito dispersal, focusing on Culex pipiens in southwest suburban Chicago, Illinois, a hotspot of West Nile virus (WNV) transmission. We enriched nine catch basins in 2010 and 2011 with 15N-potassium nitrate and detected dispersal of enriched adult females emerging from these catch basins using CDC light and gravid traps to distances as far as 3 km. We detected 12 isotopically enriched pools of mosquitoes out of 2,442 tested during the two years and calculated a mean dispersal distance of 1.15 km and maximum flight range of 2.48 km. According to a logistic distribution function, 90% of the female Culex mosquitoes stayed within 3 km of their larval habitat, which corresponds with the distance-limited genetic variation of WNV observed in this study region. This study provides new insights on the dispersal of the most important vector of WNV in the eastern United States and demonstrates the utility of stable isotope enrichment for studying the biology of mosquitoes in other disease systems.
Highlights
The distance and direction of mosquito movement on the landscape are critical factors in the development of effective strategies for control of both nuisance and vector mosquito species
We present a novel approach to study adult mosquito dispersal by using stable isotope enrichment of natural larval habitats. We apply this technique in a focal hotspot of West Nile virus (WNV) transmission in suburban, Chicago, USA to measure dispersal of Culex spp. mosquitoes
Of 10,817 adult female Culex mosquitoes trapped and tested for stable isotopes, 12 individuals were enriched with 15N, indicating they originated from the catch basins receiving stable isotope amendments
Summary
The distance and direction of mosquito movement on the landscape are critical factors in the development of effective strategies for control of both nuisance and vector mosquito species. Many alternative strategies to insecticides for vectorborne disease control are being implemented, including sterile insect technique, biological control using Wolbachia, and genetically modified mosquitoes (reviewed by [8]) For these disease control strategies to succeed and reduce the global burden of vector-borne diseases, a critical parameter necessary for field implementation of these strategies is the distance mosquitoes travel across the landscape. Control programs that release sterile, Wolbachia-infected, or genetically modified mosquitoes need detailed understanding of flight ranges to determine the appropriate spatial resolution of the release points. Simulation models of these intervention programs often incorporate parameters to represent adult mosquito dispersal [9,10], limited data on actual dispersal presents challenges to these models [11]. Given the importance of adult mosquito behavior, mosquito biologists have utilized mark-release-recapture studies for several decades to estimate mosquito dispersal distance and patterns
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