Setting up an efficient survey of Aedes albopictus in an unfamiliar urban area

Abstract

Setting up a survey may be very complex, especially when no previous data are available on the population of interest. Survey results must be non debatable (i.e. whose results are not open to question and cannot be interpreted in different ways) and precise enough to allow to answer the initial research question. A probabilistic sampling design with sufficient samples for acceptable precision and robust conclusions is then a legitimate sampling strategy. This study objective is to set up an efficient survey of Aedes albopictus on a newly colonized French city where no data are available yet. Following a method we previously published, we use a virtual ecology approach to select the most cost-efficient sampling design with appropriate sample size. This implies modelling an Aedes albopictus population based on another actual population data and testing sampling strategies on this virtual population. This allows us recommending a sampling procedure on this city to achieve precise estimates of tiger mosquitoes probability of presence.