Master Thesis

Disentangling the Influence of the Environment and Mosquito Diversity on Vector Mosquito Diversity in Europe

Jana Edelmann (10/2020-04/2021)

Support: Carl Beierkuhnlein, Stephanie Thomas

Mosquito-borne diseases are globally one of the main threats to human health. The surveillance of native mosquito species was neglected for decades in Europe after the disappearance of en-demic malaria in the mid-20th century. Only with the advent of invasive species and the threat of (re-) emerging vector-borne diseases, awareness rose again. Focus lies thereby on invasive species as they are known to transmit dengue, chikungunya, and other viruses in other parts of the globe. But not only invasive species bear the threat of disease transmission. For many native species vector capacities are unknown and might change due to climate change. Therefore, in-ventorying the current diversity and distribution of all mosquito species can deliver interesting insights and help to predict future disease outbreaks. The research in this thesis is focused on the mosquito species diversity in Europe and the disentangling of the environmental and diver-sity influences on mosquito and vector-mosquito diversity. Thus, it was hypothesised that vec-tor-mosquito diversity is positively correlated with non-vector mosquito diversity. Furthermore, it was assumed that mosquito diversity is positively correlated with the number of days above five different temperature thresholds, but negatively with the absolute minimum temperatures. Further it was assumed that vector mosquito diversity is positively correlated with human set-tlement coverage. A positive correlation was found for vector and non-vector mosquito diver-sity as well as vector mosquito diversity and human settlement coverage. Especially invasive mosquito species, which are in many cases classified as vector species are container-breeding and prefer anthropogenic water reservoirs like cemetery vases or used tires. No correlation was found for minimum temperatures and mosquito species diversity, as well as for the number of days above different temperature thresholds. Data on mosquito species and their distribution is still improvable, especially on European scale, as data is not always published or openly acces-sible. For vector management and prevention of disease outbreaks investigations on the trans-mission potential for different diseases in native mosquitos are additionally necessary.