Effects of landscape disturbance on mosquito community composition in tropical Australia

Abstract

Emerging infectious diseases are considered to be a growing threat to human and wildlife health. Such diseases might be facilitated by anthropogenic land-use changes that cause novel juxtapositions of different habitats and species and result in new interchanges of vectors, diseases, and hosts. To search for such effects in tropical Australia, we sampled mosquito populations across anthropogenic disturbance gradients of grassland, artificial rainforest edge, and rainforest interior. From >15,000 captured mosquitoes, we identified 26 species and eight genera. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference in community composition or species richness between forest edges and grasslands, but both differed significantly from rainforest interiors. Mosquito species richness was elevated in grasslands relative to the rainforest habitats. Seven species were unique to grasslands and edges, with another 13 found across all habitats. Among the three most abundant species, Culex annulirostris occurred in all habitat types, whereas Verrallina lineata and Cx. pullus were more abundant in forest interiors. Our findings suggest that the creation of anthropogenic grasslands adjacent to rainforests may increase the susceptibility of species in both habitats to transmission of novel diseases via observable changes and mixing of the vector community on rainforest edges. Journal of Vector Ecology 37 (1): 69-76. 2012.

Host-Seeking Mosquito Distribution in Habitat Mosaics of Southern Great Plains Cross-Timbers

“…A study similar to ours in disturbed landscapes of Australia (Steiger et al 2012) reported few differences in mosquito communities in grasslands vs. forest edges but showed that forest interiors had different mosquito composition. It may be that mosquitoes such as Cx.…”

“…Anthropogenic landscape disturbance is considered a major factor in the emergence or increased transmission of zoonotic pathogens (Daszak et al 2000, Patz et al 2004, Steiger et al 2012. Invasive plants, which are frequently associated with landscape disturbance, have been shown to affect pathogen transmission potential by altering local distribution and abundance of vectors or hosts (Allan et al 2010, Reiskind et al 2010.…”

Differences in host species relationships and biogeographic influences produce contrasting patterns of prevalence, community composition and genetic structure in two genera of avian malaria parasites in southern Melanesia

“…; Steiger et al . ). However, the relative contributions of these factors to parasite prevalence and distribution patterns may differ substantially among parasite genera as well as among host species and populations.…”

Habitat Fragmentation and Ecological Traits Influence the Prevalence of Avian Blood Parasites in a Tropical Rainforest Landscape

“…First, forest edges dramatically increase in fragmented landscapes [10]. These rapidly expanding edge environments juxtapose dense rainforest with open pasture or cropland and provide opportunities for vectors or hosts to move between habitats, increasing their potential disease exposure through novel species interactions [11], [12]. Second, the replacement of rainforests with anthropogenic lands has been shown dramatically to increase the abundance of open-habitat preferring mosquitoes such as Anopheles , thereby elevating the probability of disease transmission via an increase in vectors [13]–[15].…”