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Using a climate-dependent model to predict mosquito abundance: application to Aedes (Stegomyia) africanus and Aedes (Diceromyia) furcifer (Diptera: Culicidae).

Schaeffer B, Mondet B, Touzeau S

INRA, UR341 Mathématiques et Informatique Appliquées, F-78350 Jouy-en-Josas Cedex, France. Brigitte.Schaeffer@jouy.inra.fr

Mosquitoes, acting as vectors, are involved in the transmission of viruses. Thus, their abundances, which strongly depend on the weather and environment, are closely linked to major disease outbreaks. The aim of this paper is to provide a tool to predict vector abundance. In order to describe the dynamics of mosquito populations, we developed a matrix model integrating climate fluctuations. The population is structured in five stages: two egg stages (immature and mature), one larval stage and two female flying stages (nulliparous and parous). The water availability in breeding sites was considered as the main environmental factor affecting the mosquito life-cycle. Thus, the model represents the evolution of the mosquito abundance in each stage over time, in connection with water availability. The model was used to simulate the abundance trends over 3 years of two mosquito species, Aedes africanus (Theobald) and Aedes furcifer (Edwards), vectors of the yellow fever virus in Ivory Coast. As both these species breed in tree holes, the water dynamics in the tree hole was reproduced from daily rainfall data. The results we obtained showed a good match between the simulated populations and the field data over the time period considered.

Published 26 May 2008 in Infect Genet Evol, 8(4): 422-32.
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