Abstract
Immature mosquitoes are aquatic, and their distribution, abundance, and individual fitness in a particular breeding habitat are known to be dependent on mainly three factors: biotic factors, abiotic factors, and their interaction between each other and with other associated taxa. Mosquito breeding habitats harbor a diversified naturally occurring microbiota assemblage, and the biota have different types of interactions with mosquito larvae in those habitats. Those interactions may include parasitism, pathogenism, predation, and competition which cause the mortality of larvae, natural reduction of larval abundance, or alterations in their growth. Many microbiota species serve as food items for mosquito larvae, and there are also some indigestible or toxic phytoplanktons to larvae. However, when there is coexistence or mutualism of different mosquito species along with associated microbiota, they form a community sharing the habitat requirements. With the available literature, it is evident that the abundance of mosquito larvae is related to the densities of associated microbiota and their composition in that particular breeding habitat. Potential antagonist microbiota which are naturally occurring in mosquito breeding habitats could be used in integrated vector control approaches, and this method rises as an ecofriendly approach in controlling larvae in natural habitats themselves. To date, this aspect has received less attention; only a limited number of species of microbiota inhabiting mosquito breeding habitats have been recorded, and detailed studies on microbiota assemblage in relation to diverse vector mosquito breeding habitats and their association with mosquito larvae are few. Therefore, future studies on this important ecological aspect are encouraged. Such studies may help to identify field characteristic agents that can serve as mosquito controlling candidates in their natural habitats themselves.
Highlights
Due to the importance of mosquitoes as vectors for diseases in terms of public health, studying their ecological and environmental conditions influencing the abundance of these species is a vital necessity [1]
Among biotic factors associated with mosquito breeding habitats, several species of bacteria, fungi, unicellular organisms such as protists [13], entomopathogenic nematodes [14], and filamentous fungi [15] are recorded for the infection to mosquito larvae
After about a 74-year gap, the transformation of Lambornella stegomyiae trophonts to theronts, the distribution of invasion cysts on larval Aedes albopictus cuticle, and the virulence of L. stegomyiae to Ae. albopictus and Aedes aegypti under laboratory conditions were studied by Arshad and Sulaiman [20]
Summary
Due to the importance of mosquitoes as vectors for diseases in terms of public health, studying their ecological and environmental conditions influencing the abundance of these species is a vital necessity [1]. The distribution, abundance, and individual fitness of mosquitoes in a particular breeding habitat are known to be dependent on mainly three factors: biotic factors [3, 4], abiotic factors [5, 6], and their interaction between each other and with other associated taxa [7, 8]. Those interactions included parasitism, pathogenism, predation, and competition. There are only a very limited number of studies and scattered information focused on this aspect; only a limited number of such potential parasitic or pathogenic species have been recorded from those studies
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