Anamika Patel, Avinash Patil, Precious Lyngdoh, R Balasubramanian, Pratip Shil
There is a global increase in vector-borne diseases through expanding habitats, warming climate, enhancing survival, growth and reproduction of vectors, which results in the emergence and re-emergence of dengue, chikungunya, malaria, etc., especially in India. This first-ever year-round mosquito survey across five agro-climatic zones in western Maharashtra, India, aims to determine species composition diversity and seasonal variability in abundance (of various species) in relation to meteorological factors. Mosquitoes were collected from the fixed study locations using CDC miniature light traps, identified, and species diversity was calculated using Simpson's index of diversity, Shannon-Wiener's diversity index and Shannon-Wiener's evenness index. Mosquito abundance was determined as counts per trap. The dominance structure of mosquito populations was analysed based on Heydemann's classification, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was applied to measure the strength of statistical association between mosquito abundance and meteorological parameters. To understand the effects of environmental factors, for each season, mosquito abundance was compared with monthly averages of meteorological factors. In this study, 11,570 mosquito specimens were caught. A total of 30 species from 7 genera: Culex, Anopheles, Aedes, Mansonia, Armigeres, Ficalbia, and Aedomyia, were identified. Species composition diversity was varied in the mosquito population in study locations across different agro-climatic zones. Among all the species Cx. quinquefasciatus, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus, Cx. gelidus, An. stephensi and Ar. subalbatus were commonly found at all the locations. This study provides valuable insights into mosquito diversity and seasonality, which can help public health authorities to undertake effective vector control in future.