Ecological niche modeling of Zika and dengue mosquitoes in New Mexico, Southwestern U.S.A.

Keywords: ecological niche modeling, mosquitoes, vector-borne viruses, landscape ecology, New Mexico
Session Type: Virtual Guided Poster Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 33

Abstract

A current and accurate understanding of the spatial distribution of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes is critical for countering the threat of diseases (e.g., Zika and dengue) transmitted by these mosquitoes. Such an understanding is currently lacking in New Mexico, southwestern U.S.A., making vector control challenging. To address this issue, we modeled the distribution of Ae. aegypti using mosquito field data and geospatial environmental data. We sampled mosquitoes using a stratified random sampling design in six land cover types in 24 counties and, within the urban and built-up land cover type, in four levels of urban development in 13 cities of New Mexico. Mosquitoes were sampled using gravid traps and autocidal gravid ovitraps and identified using morphological keys. We considered a diversity of environmental data layers as potential predictors of mosquito presence, including variables related to climate, topography, land system architecture (i.e., land cover composition and configuration), demography, and economics. Ecological niche modeling was accomplished using generalized linear models, generalized additive models, random forest, boosted regression trees, and Maxent. We will present results from this effort, including differences in the predicted species distributions, species-environment relationships, and model performances.