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24 April 2023 Wind-assisted high-altitude dispersal of mosquitoes and other insects in East Africa
Harrysone E. Atieli, Guofa Zhou, Daibin Zhong, Xiaoming Wang, Ming-chieh Lee, Alpha S. Yaro, Moussa Diallo, John Githure, James Kazura, Tovi Lehmann, Guiyun Yan
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Abstract

Knowledge of insect dispersal is relevant to the control of agricultural pests, vector-borne transmission of human and veterinary pathogens, and insect biodiversity. Previous studies in a malaria endemic area of the Sahel region in West Africa revealed high-altitude, long-distance migration of insects and various mosquito species.The objective of the current study was to assess whether similar behavior is exhibited by mosquitoes and other insects around the Lake Victoria basin region of Kenya in East Africa. Insects were sampled monthly from dusk to dawn over 1 year using sticky nets suspended on a tethered helium-filled balloon. A total of 17,883 insects were caught on nets tethered at 90, 120, and 160 m above ground level; 818 insects were caught in control nets. Small insects (<0.5 cm, n = 15,250) were predominant regardless of height compared with large insects (>0.5 cm, n = 2,334) and mosquitoes (n = 299). Seven orders were identified; dipteran was the most common. Barcoding molecular assays of 184 mosquitoes identified 7 genera, with Culex being the most common (65.8%) and Anopheles being the least common (5.4%).The survival rate of mosquitoes, experimentally exposed to high-altitude overnight, was significantly lower than controls maintained in the laboratory (19% vs. 85%). There were no significant differences in mosquito survival and oviposition rate according to capture height.These data suggest that windborne dispersal activity of mosquito vectors of malaria and other diseases occurs on a broad scale in sub-Saharan Africa.

Harrysone E. Atieli, Guofa Zhou, Daibin Zhong, Xiaoming Wang, Ming-chieh Lee, Alpha S. Yaro, Moussa Diallo, John Githure, James Kazura, Tovi Lehmann, and Guiyun Yan "Wind-assisted high-altitude dispersal of mosquitoes and other insects in East Africa," Journal of Medical Entomology 60(4), 698-707, (24 April 2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjad033
Received: 18 October 2022; Accepted: 22 March 2023; Published: 24 April 2023
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KEYWORDS
Africa
altitude
insect
migration
mosquito
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