PARENT SESSION
Symposium 3: Emerging Diseases: Stressing the Union of Community Ecology and Epidemiology
Organized by: S Collinge and C Ray
Monday, August 4. 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, SITCC Chatham Ballroom C.
Freshwater Community Interactions and Malaria Persistence in Tropical Wetlands.
Rejmánková, Eliska *,1, Grieco, John2, Achee, Nicole2, Johnson, Sarah 1, Macek, Petr1, Pope, Kevin 3, Masuoka, Penny2, 1 University of California Davis, Davis, CA2 USUHS, Bethesda, MD3 Geo Eco Arc Research, Aquasco, MD
ABSTRACT- Presence and abundance of mosquito larvae in aquatic habitats reflect the oviposition preference of females as well as the survival capability of larvae. These are regulated by a variety of ecosystem processes operating and interacting at several organizational levels and spatial/temporal scales. Presence of water, food source, and protection are the key variables. Aquatic plants (both micro- and macrophytes) provide protection from predators and, together with other resident vegetation, contribute detritus that supports the bacterial community, which, in turn, serves as food for larvae. A change in any component in this complex structure may have a substantial impact on the mosquito population and can even lead to a replacement of one species with another. Of the three species of anopheline mosquitoes responsible for malaria transmission in the country of Belize, Central America, two have their larval stages occurring in freshwater marshes. Sparse Eleocharis/cyanobacterial mat-dominated marshes provide favorable habitat for Anopheles albimanus while tall dense macropytes (TDM) such as cattails are typical habitat for Anopheles vestitipennis. We are testing the following hypotheses: (1): Phosphorus (P) enriched runoff from agricultural lands, namely pasture and sugar cane, and human settlements causes an expansion of TDM vegetation in wetlands of northern Belize; (2): TDM marshes provide more productive habitat for Anopheles vestitipennis than for An. albimanus. Since An. vestitipennis is a more efficient malaria vector than An. albimanus, such development would result in higher malaria risk in human settlements in proximity to the impacted marshes.
Key words: Anopheles vestitipennis, Anopheles albimanus, malaria, freshwater marshes