Successional mosquito dynamics in surrogate treehole and ground‐container habitats in the northeastern United States: Where does Aedes albopictus fit in?. Issue 1 (23rd May 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Johnson, B. J.; Sukhdeo, M. V. K.
• Is Part Of: Journal of vector ecology. Volume 38:Issue 1(2013:Jun.)
• Page Start: 168
• Page End: 174
• Publication Date: 2013-05-23
• Subjects: Arthropod vectors -- Ecology -- Periodicals; Animals as carriers of disease -- Periodicals; Animal ecology -- Periodicals; Host-parasite relationships -- Periodicals; Pests -- Control -- Periodicals; 571.986
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1948-7134.2013.12023.x
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1081-1710

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>ABSTRACT: </title> <p>This study assessed the risk of larval displacement of the eastern treehole mosquito, <italic>Aedes triseriatus</italic>, and the northern house mosquito, <italic>Culex pipiens</italic>, by <italic>Aedes albopictus</italic>, the Asian tiger mosquito, during the establishment and successional stages of novel larval mosquito treehole and ground‐container habitats in the state of New Jersey, U.S.A. <italic>Culex pipiens</italic> and <italic>Culex restuans</italic> were the first mosquito species to colonize ground‐container habitats and were the dominant larval species throughout the study period, whereas <italic>Ae. albopictus</italic> was late to colonize ground habitats and accounted for less than 15% of weekly larval collections once established. <italic>Ae. albopictus</italic> had a much stronger community presence within treehole ovitraps; however, <italic>Ae. albopictus</italic> never reached the average larval densities of the expected primary colonizer, <italic>Ae. triseriatus</italic>. Throughout the study period, the weekly abundances of <italic>Ae. triseriatus</italic> and <italic>Ae. albopictus</italic> were positively correlated and there were no significant differences between the abundances of each species. The larval dominance of <italic>Ae. triseriatus</italic> appears to be enhanced by the presence of <italic>Toxorhynchites rutilus septentrionalis</italic>, a large predatory mosquito species. When <italic>Tx. rut. septentrionalis</italic> was present, mature larvae (3<sup>rd</sup>–4<sup>th</sup> instar) of <italic>Ae. albopictus</italic> were also present in only 16.7% of collections, whereas mature larvae of <italic>Ae. triseriatus</italic> were collected concurrently with <italic>Tx. rut. septentrionalis</italic> in 53.8% of collections. These data suggest that <italic>Ae. triseriatus</italic> is at a greater risk of displacement by <italic>Ae. albopictus</italic> than are <italic>Cx. pipiens</italic> and <italic>Cx. restuans</italic>.</p> </abstract>