Abstract
The presence of insect vectors is a key prerequisite for transmission of vector-borne disease such as avian haemosporidians. In general, the effects of land use change on Diptera vectors are not well studied; the response of vectors to forest management depends on vector species, as has been shown previously for the birds. We tested if abundance of insects from different Diptera families and haemosporidian infection are affected through alteration of habitat structural variables (measured by LiDAR) and forest management intensities. We identified higher large-scale variation of female insect abundance in northeastern than in southwestern Germany. Unmanaged forest stands had higher Diptera insect abundances. We found that abundance of female Diptera increased with the amount of forest gaps but decreased in forest plots with more south facing aspect, higher habitat structural heterogeneity, temperature and humidity. We found that haemosporidian infections in Diptera insects increased with increased management intensity and more canopy structural diversity (e.g., amount of edge habitat), but decreased with a denser shrub layer, deeper leaf litter and higher humidity (characteristics for unmanaged forest stands). Although higher forest management intensity decreased vector abundance, the haemosporidian infections in the vectors increased, indicating a significant effect of forest management on disease dynamics.
Highlights
Habitat alteration and land use intensification are probably the most important drivers for biodiversity loss[1]
Forest management regimes should be a driver for the prevalence of vector-borne diseases because their direct influence on hosts health can change their response to parasitism[13], or because it may alter the availability of suitable habitat for the insect vectors in which the host live[7]
There are regional differences, where the abundance of ceratopogonids was higher in the northeastern region. (b) For Culicidae abundance, we found a significant negative effect when increasing silvicultural management (SMI), which contrasts with the significant higher abundance of mosquitoes in age class young stands compared to unmanaged beech stands (Fig. S2, Table 1), as both young and old age forest classes have a significantly higher silvicultural management index indicator (SMI) compared to unmanaged stands (Kruskal-Wallis, χ2 = 74.036, df = 37, P < 0.01, Fig. S3)
Summary
Habitat alteration and land use intensification are probably the most important drivers for biodiversity loss[1]. Increased intensity in forest management can lead to a higher exposure to diseases through increased transmission risk via changes in resource availability for vectors, hosts and parasites[3,4,5,6,7] It is poorly known how the abundance and composition of dipteran vectors respond to forest structure, in particular to forest use and management regimes[8,9,10,11,12]. The order Haemosporida includes malaria-like parasites of the genera Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon and Plasmodium, of which the latter causes human malaria[17] These parasites need vertebrate hosts for the asexual stages of their development, while the sexual stages occur within the insect vectors[17]. We tested (i) how forest management and/or forest structure affects vector abundance at the local forest habitat level, (ii) whether vector family/genera species and abundance vary across sites and different years, and (iii) how forest management and/or forest structure influence haemosporidian infections in Diptera
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