D3009: Effects of landscape on mosquito community composition and abundance in Manatee County, Florida

Mosquitoes are the most important vectors of arthropod-borne disease and responsible for the transmission of pathogens that cause more than 700,000 human deaths globally each year. Abiotic and biotic factors can impact the distributions and abundances of mosquito species, altering transmission risk and management activities. Previous studies investigating environmental drivers of mosquito abundances and distributions often focus on individual vector species, despite the potential for interspecific variations in vector competency within mosquito communities to affect transmission outcomes. We utilized joint species distribution models to quantify effects of landscape composition on individual species and mosquito community diversity across 56 mosquito control district surveillance sites in Manatee County, Florida during the 2020 sampling season. Mean number of mosquitoes per trap night for each species served as response variables in our model, and percent landcover for water, developed, cropland, herbaceous wetland, and woody wetland within a 5 km buffer of trap sites served as environmental variables. Preliminary results indicated that proportions of variance explained by percent landcover for individual species coincided with known habitats for most species in our data set. Predictions of species richness decreased with increasing percentages of developed landcover, but did not exhibit strong changes with increasing cropland, herbaceous wetland, or water. Additionally, predictions of species richness increased with increasing woody wetland percentage at lower values but decreased at values greater than 20%. Quantifying impacts of landscape on individual species and mosquito communities can inform mosquito control efforts, while helping to mitigate potential transmission risk through informed land use planning.