Diversity and community structure of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in suburban, field, and forest habitats in Montréal, Québec, Canada

Abstract

Abstract Understanding the medical and economic impacts of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) begins with knowing their natural history and distribution, including their association with habitat types, particularly those in which human activity is high. The effects of habitat on shaping the community structure of mosquitoes were studied across periurban habitats on the island of Montréal, Québec, Canada in 2014 and 2015. Mosquitoes were collected from 20 fixed sampling locations in suburban backyards, fields, and forests, using CO2-baited light-emitting diode encephalitis vector survey traps. A total of 184 607 mosquitoes were collected, representing eight genera and 35 species. Suburban, field, and forest sites had different communities of mosquitoes, but differences were not apparent among sites within similar habitat types in nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordinations and permutational multivariate analysis of variance. In both years, the greatest abundance of mosquitoes was collected from field habitat, and the highest species richness, from forests. Suburban sites consistently generated the lowest abundance and diversity. Nearly 75% of the total individuals collected were from three species: Aedes vexans (Meigen), 39%; Coquillettidia perturbans (Walker), 18%; and Aedes canadensis (Theobald), 16%. This research shows that diverse communities of mosquitoes can be found in forests, fields, and backyards, yet the communities between forests differ from more open habitats. Our community analysis reveals that medically important species (e.g., Culex sp.) are more commonly encountered in suburban backyards, yet overall mosquito nuisance potential is greater in forest and field habitats. This information highlights important patterns of mosquito abundance and species occurrence, vital for the development of management programmes.