Abstract
BackgroundThe mosquito Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii is the main vector of human and simian malaria in the Atlantic Forest. This species is usually abundant in the forests where it occurs, preferring to live and feed on canopies, behaviour known as acrodendrophily. However, in several studies and locations this species has been observed in high density near the ground in the forest. In this study, it was hypothesized that factors associated with anthropogenic landscape changes may be responsible for the variation in abundance and acrodendrophily observed in An. cruzii.MethodsThe study was conducted in a conservation unit in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Monthly entomological collections were performed from March 2015 to April 2017, and the resulting data were used with data from another study conducted in the same area between May 2009 and June 2010. Mosquitoes were collected from five sites using CDC and Shannon traps. Landscape composition and configuration metrics were measured, and generalized linear mixed-effect models were used to investigate the relationship between these metrics and variations in the abundance and acrodendrophily of An. cruzii.ResultsThe model that showed the best fit for the relationship between landscape metrics and An. cruzii abundance suggests that an increase in the proportion of forest cover leads to an increase in the abundance of this mosquito, while the model that best explained variations in An. cruzii acrodendrophily suggests that an increase in total forest-edge length leads to greater activity by this species at ground level.ConclusionWhile the data indicate that changes in landscape due to human activities lead to a reduction in An. cruzii abundance, such changes may increase the contact rate between this species and humans living on the edges of forest fragments where An. cruzii is found. Future studies should, therefore, seek to elucidate the effect of these landscape changes on the dynamics of Plasmodium transmission in the Atlantic Forest, which according to some studies includes the participation of simian hosts.
Highlights
The mosquito Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii is the main vector of human and simian malaria in the Atlantic Forest
Autochthonous malaria in the Atlantic Forest occurs mainly in the Southern and Southeastern regions of Brazil, where it is called “bromeliad malaria” because the immature forms of the main mosquito vectors develop in the water that collects in bromeliads (Bromeliaceae), an abundant group of plants in this biome [1,2,3,4]
The species known to be vectors of bromeliad malaria belong to the subgenus Kerteszia of the genus Anopheles, and are distributed along the Atlantic coast of Brazil some can be found in the Amazon region [7]
Summary
The mosquito Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii is the main vector of human and simian malaria in the Atlantic Forest. Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii is considered the species most associated with the transmission of human and simian Plasmodium in the Atlantic Forest [8,9,10,11,12]. It had a widespread distribution in Brazil, extending from the Southern to Northeastern regions of the country [7]. With increasing deforestation in the Atlantic Forest its distribution has decreased [2, 4, 13]
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