TY - JOUR
T1 - Mosquito biodiversity and mosquito-borne viruses in the United Arab Emirates
AU - Camp, Jeremy V.
AU - Karuvantevida, Noushad
AU - Chouhna, Houda
AU - Safi, Ebtesam
AU - Shah, Junid N.
AU - Nowotny, Norbert
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by the MBRU Internal Research Grant #MBRU-CM-RG2017-02 entitled “Mosquitoes of the UAE as vectors of medically important viruses”awarded to NN.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2019/4/3
Y1 - 2019/4/3
N2 - Background: In the last 50 years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has experienced rapid population growth and urbanization. Urbanization is known to influence biodiversity, and there appears to be a link between the emergence of arboviruses and urban growth. Very little is known about the UAE mosquito species richness and dominant vectors. We performed a mosquito survey comparing peri-urban sites in Dubai and Al Ain to a protected, natural site in Fujairah emirate. We measured mosquito biodiversity and species composition, and screened mosquito pools for common arboviruses to measure arbovirus activity in the region. Results: We report ten species of mosquitoes from the UAE, with highest species diversity in the natural site, a protected wadi near the eastern coast. The predominant mosquito was Culex perexiguus, and was associated with peri-urban habitats. The site with lowest mosquito species diversity but relatively high species richness was the peri-urban site of Al Ain Zoo, where we identified Bagaza virus and Barkedji virus, two flaviviruses, in pools of Cx. perexiguus. Conclusions: Decreased mosquito biodiversity was associated with increased levels of urbanization. The predominance of two species at peri-urban sites was related to the availability of their larval habitats. Arboviruses were associated with the presence of a single predominant mosquito species, Cx. perexiguus.
AB - Background: In the last 50 years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has experienced rapid population growth and urbanization. Urbanization is known to influence biodiversity, and there appears to be a link between the emergence of arboviruses and urban growth. Very little is known about the UAE mosquito species richness and dominant vectors. We performed a mosquito survey comparing peri-urban sites in Dubai and Al Ain to a protected, natural site in Fujairah emirate. We measured mosquito biodiversity and species composition, and screened mosquito pools for common arboviruses to measure arbovirus activity in the region. Results: We report ten species of mosquitoes from the UAE, with highest species diversity in the natural site, a protected wadi near the eastern coast. The predominant mosquito was Culex perexiguus, and was associated with peri-urban habitats. The site with lowest mosquito species diversity but relatively high species richness was the peri-urban site of Al Ain Zoo, where we identified Bagaza virus and Barkedji virus, two flaviviruses, in pools of Cx. perexiguus. Conclusions: Decreased mosquito biodiversity was associated with increased levels of urbanization. The predominance of two species at peri-urban sites was related to the availability of their larval habitats. Arboviruses were associated with the presence of a single predominant mosquito species, Cx. perexiguus.
KW - Bagaza virus
KW - Barkedji virus
KW - Flavivirus
KW - Urbanization
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U2 - 10.1186/s13071-019-3417-8
DO - 10.1186/s13071-019-3417-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 30944019
AN - SCOPUS:85063970053
SN - 1756-3305
VL - 12
JO - Parasites and Vectors
JF - Parasites and Vectors
IS - 1
M1 - 153
ER -