Species abundance, composition, and nocturnal activity of female Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae) in malaria-endemic villages of Papua New Guinea: assessment with barrier screen sampling

Keven, John B., Katusele, Michelle, Vinit, Rebecca, Koimbu, Gussy, Vincent, Naomi, Thomsen, Edward K., Karl, Stephan, Reimer, Lisa J., and Walker, Edward D. (2019) Species abundance, composition, and nocturnal activity of female Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae) in malaria-endemic villages of Papua New Guinea: assessment with barrier screen sampling. Malaria Journal, 18. 96.

[img]
Preview
PDF (Published Version) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (2MB) | Preview
View at Publisher Website: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-2742-...
 
7
748


Abstract

Background: Community composition of Anopheles mosquitoes, and their host-seeking and peridomestic behaviour, are important factors affecting malaria transmission. In this study, barrier screen sampling was used to investigate species composition, abundance, and nocturnal activity of Anopheles populations in villages of Papua New Guinea.

Methods: Mosquitoes were sampled from 6 pm to 6 am in five villages from 2012 to 2016. The barrier screens were positioned between the village houses and the perimeter of villages where cultivated and wild vegetation ("the bush") grew thickly. Female Anopheles that rested on either village or bush side of the barrier screens, as they commuted into and out of the villages, were captured. Similarity in species composition among villages was assessed. Mosquitoes captured on village and bush sides of the barrier screens were sorted by feeding status and by hour of collection, and their numbers were compared using negative binomial generalized linear models.

Results: Females of seven Anopheles species were present in the sample. Species richness ranged from four to six species per village, but relative abundance was highly uneven within and between villages, and community composition was similar for two pairs of villages and highly dissimilar in a fifth. For most Anopheles populations, more unfed than blood-fed mosquitoes were collected from the barrier screens. More blood-fed mosquitoes were found on the side of the barrier screens facing the village and relatively more unfed ones on the bush side, suggesting commuting behaviour of unfed host-seeking females into the villages from nearby bush and commuting of blood-fed females away from villages towards the bush. For most populations, the majority of host-seeking mosquitoes arrived in the village before midnight when people were active and unprotected from the mosquitoes by bed nets.

Conclusion: The uneven distribution of Anopheles species among villages, with each site dominated by different species, even among nearby villages, emphasizes the importance of vector heterogeneity in local malaria transmission and control. Yet, for most species, nocturnal activity patterns of village entry and host seeking predominantly occurred before midnight indicating common behaviours across species and populations relative to human risk of exposure to Anopheles bites.

Item ID: 58123
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1475-2875
Keywords: Anopheles, barrier, blood-fed, bush, mosquitoes, screen, unfed, village
Copyright Information: © The Author(s) 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Funders: Fogarty International Center (FIC), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), International Center for Excellence of Malaria Research (ICEMR)
Projects and Grants: FIC 2D43TW007377, ICEMR Southwest Pacific Program U19AI089686, ICEMR Southeast Asia Program U19AI089672
Date Deposited: 22 Apr 2019 23:41
FoR Codes: 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310901 Animal behaviour @ 20%
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410402 Environmental assessment and monitoring @ 20%
42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4202 Epidemiology > 420203 Environmental epidemiology @ 60%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920109 Infectious Diseases @ 50%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9604 Control of Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species > 960404 Control of Animal Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species in Forest and Woodlands Environments @ 50%
Downloads: Total: 748
Last 12 Months: 91
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page