Local tree cover predicts mosquito species richness and disease vector presence in a tropical countryside landscape

Abstract

AbstractLand use change is an important driver of both biodiversity loss and zoonotic disease transmission in tropical countryside landscapes. Developing solutions for protecting biodiversity, public health, and livelihoods in working landscapes requires understanding the spatial scales at which habitat characteristics such as land cover shape biodiversity, especially for arthropods that transmit pathogens. A growing body of evidence shows that species richness for many taxa correlates with tree cover at small spatial scales of <100 m, indicating that local tree cover management is a promising conservation tool. To investigate whether mosquito species richness, community composition, and presence of specific disease vector species respond to tree cover— and if so, whether at spatial scales similar to other taxa—we surveyed mosquito communities along a tree cover gradient and across agricultural, residential, and forested land uses in rural southern Costa Rica. We found that tree cover was both positively correlated with mosquito species richness and negatively correlated with the presence of the common invasive dengue vectorAedes albopictus, particularly at small spatial scales of 80 – 200m. Beyond tree cover, land use type predicted community composition andAe. albopictuspresence, but not species richness. The results suggest that preservation and expansion of tree cover at local scales can protect biodiversity for a wide range of taxa and also confer protection against disease vector occurrence.