Errors in soil maps: The need for better on-site estimates and soil map predictions.

High-quality soil maps are urgently needed by diverse stakeholders, but errors in existing soil maps are often unknown, particularly in countries with limited soil surveys. To address this issue, we used field soil data to assess the accuracy of seven spatial soil databases (Digital Soil Map of the World, Namibian Soil and Terrain Digital Database, Soil and Terrain Database for Southern Africa, Harmonized World Soil Database, SoilGrids1km, SoilGrids250m, and World Inventory of Soil Property Estimates) using topsoil texture as an example soil property and Namibia as a case study area. In addition, we visually compared topsoil texture maps derived from these databases.

Microclimate and the vertical stratification of potential bridge vectors of mosquito‑borne viruses captured by nets and ovitraps in a central Amazonian forest bordering Manaus, Brazil.

In the Americas, some mosquito-borne viruses such as Zika, chikungunya, and dengue circulate among humans in urban transmission cycles, while others, including yellow fever and Mayaro, circulate among monkeys in sylvatic cycles. The intersection of humans and wildlife at forest edges creates risk for zoonotic virus exchange. We built a scaffold tower at the edge of a treefall gap in rainforest bordering Manaus, Brazil, to identify vectors that may bridge transmission between humans and monkeys.

Shifts in mosquito diversity and abundance along a gradient from oil palm plantations to conterminous forests in Borneo.

Deforestation precipitates spillover of enzootic, vector-borne viruses into humans, but specific mechanisms for this effect have rarely been investigated. Expansion of oil palm cultivation is a major driver of deforestation. Here, we demonstrate that mosquito abundance decreased over ten stepwise distances from interior forest into conterminous palm plantations in Borneo.

The vertical stratification of potential bridge vectors of mosquito-borne viruses in a central Amazonian forest bordering Manaus, Brazil.

The emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV) in Latin America brought to the fore longstanding concerns that forests bordering urban areas may provide a gateway for arbovirus spillback from humans to wildlife. To bridge urban and sylvatic transmission cycles, mosquitoes must co-occur with both humans and potential wildlife hosts, such as monkeys, in space and time. We deployed BG-Sentinel traps at heights of 0, 5, 10, and 15 m in trees in a rainforest reserve bordering Manaus, Brazil, to characterize the vertical stratification of mosquitoes and their associations with microclimate and to identify potential bridge vectors.

Identification of Mosquito Bloodmeals Collected in Diverse Habitats in Malaysian Borneo Using COI Barcoding.

Land cover and land use change (LCLUC) acts as a catalyst for spillover of arthropod-borne pathogens into novel hosts by shifting host and vector diversity, abundance, and distribution, ultimately reshaping host-vector interactions. Identification of bloodmeals from wild-caught mosquitoes provides insight into host utilization of particular species in particular land cover types, and hence their potential role in pathogen maintenance and spillover. Here, we collected 134 blood-engorged mosquitoes comprising 10 taxa across 9 land cover types in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, a region experiencing intense LCLUC and concomitant spillover of arthropod-borne pathogens.

Into the woods: Changes in mosquito community composition and presence of key vectors at increasing distances from the urban edge in urban forest parks in Manaus, Brazil.

Mosquito-borne Zika virus (ZIKV) was recently introduced into the Americas and now has the potential to spill back into a sylvatic cycle in the region, likely involving non-human primates and Aedes, Haemagogus, and Sabethes species mosquitoes. We investigated potential routes of mosquito-borne virus exchange between urban and sylvatic transmission cycles by characterizing mosquito communities in three urban forest parks that receive heavy traffic from both humans and monkeys in Manaus, Brazil. Parks were stratified by both distance from the urban-forest edge (0, 50, 100, and 500 m) and relative Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) (low, medium, or high), and mosquitoes were sampled at randomly selected sites within each stratum using BG-Sentinel traps.

occurs in populations in New Mexico and Florida, USA.

The mosquitoes (L.) and . Skuse are the major vectors of dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya viruses worldwide.

Widespread insecticide resistance in Aedes aegypti L. from New Mexico, U.S.A.

Background: Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are vectors of a variety of emerging viral pathogens, including yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika virus. This species has established endemic populations in all cities across southern New Mexico sampled to date. Presently, control of Aedes-borne viruses relies on deployment of insecticides to suppress mosquito populations, but the evolution of insecticide resistance threatens the success of vector control programs.

Biodiversity Pattern of Mosquitoes in Southeastern Senegal, Epidemiological Implication in Arbovirus and Malaria Transmission.

The composition, density, diversity, and temporal distribution of mosquito species and the influence of temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall on these data were investigated in 50 sites across five land cover classes (forest, savannah, barren, village, and agriculture) in southeastern Senegal. Mosquitoes were collected monthly in each site between June 2009 and March 2011, with three people collecting mosquitoes landing on their legs for one to four consecutive days. In total, 81,219 specimens, belonging to 60 species and 7 genera, were collected.

Ecological niche modeling of Aedes mosquito vectors of chikungunya virus in southeastern Senegal.

Background: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) originated in a sylvatic cycle of transmission between non-human animal hosts and vector mosquitoes in the forests of Africa. Subsequently the virus jumped out of this ancestral cycle into a human-endemic transmission cycle vectored by anthropophilic mosquitoes. Sylvatic CHIKV cycles persist in Africa and continue to spill over into humans, creating the potential for new CHIKV strains to enter human-endemic transmission.

Zika virus emergence in mosquitoes in southeastern Senegal, 2011.

Background: Zika virus (ZIKV; genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae) is maintained in a zoonotic cycle between arboreal Aedes spp. mosquitoes and nonhuman primates in African and Asian forests. Spillover into humans has been documented in both regions and the virus is currently responsible for a large outbreak in French Polynesia.

Patterns of a sylvatic yellow fever virus amplification in southeastern Senegal, 2010.

During the wet season of 2010, yellow fever virus (YFV) was detected in field-collected mosquitoes in the Kédougou region in southeastern Senegal. During this outbreak, we studied the association of the abundance of YFV-infected mosquitoes and land cover features to try and understand the dynamics of YFV transmission within the region. In total, 41,234 mosquito females were collected and tested for virus infection in 5,152 pools.

Larval ecology of mosquitoes in sylvatic arbovirus foci in southeastern Senegal.

Background: Although adult mosquito vectors of sylvatic arbovirus [yellow fever (YFV), dengue-2 (DENV-2) and chikungunya (CHIKV)] have been studied for the past 40 years in southeastern Senegal, data are still lacking on the ecology of larval mosquitoes in this area. In this study, we investigated the larval habitats of mosquitoes and characterized their seasonal and spatial dynamics in arbovirus foci.

Methods: We searched for wet microhabitats, classified in 9 categories, in five land cover classes (agriculture, forest, savannah, barren and village) from June, 2010 to January, 2011.

Landscape ecology of sylvatic chikungunya virus and mosquito vectors in southeastern Senegal.

The risk of human infection with sylvatic chikungunya (CHIKV) virus was assessed in a focus of sylvatic arbovirus circulation in Senegal by investigating distribution and abundance of anthropophilic Aedes mosquitoes, as well as the abundance and distribution of CHIKV in these mosquitoes. A 1650 km(2) area was classified into five land cover classes: forest, barren, savanna, agriculture and village. A total of 39,799 mosquitoes was sampled from all classes using human landing collections between June 2009 and January 2010.