Dispersal of adult culex mosquitoes in an urban west nile virus hotspot: a mark-capture study incorporating stable isotope enrichment of natural larval habitats.

Dispersal is a critical life history behavior for mosquitoes and is important for the spread of mosquito-borne disease. We implemented the first stable isotope mark-capture study to measure mosquito dispersal, focusing on Culex pipiens in southwest suburban Chicago, Illinois, a hotspot of West Nile virus (WNV) transmission. We enriched nine catch basins in 2010 and 2011 with 15N-potassium nitrate and detected dispersal of enriched adult females emerging from these catch basins using CDC light and gravid traps to distances as far as 3 km.

Evaluation of a stable isotope method to mark naturally-breeding larval mosquitoes for adult dispersal studies.

Understanding mosquito dispersal is critically important for vector-borne disease control and prevention. Mark-release-recapture methods using various marking techniques have made substantial contributions to the study of mosquito biology. However, the ability to mark naturally breeding mosquitoes noninvasively and with life-long retention has remained problematic.