Habitat modification for mosquito control in the Ilparpa Swamp, Northern Territory, Australia

Habitat modification is an established method of effective long-term mosquito management, particularly in salt-marsh environments. It is especially pertinent when mosquitoes are known vectors of life-threatening disease and their larval breeding habitat is in close proximity to residential areas. The Ilparpa Swamp is located less than 10 km from Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Wet season rainfall, often followed by effluent discharges to the swamp from the adjacent sewage treatment plant, create ideal sites for the immature stages of the common banded mosquito Culex annulirostris (Skuse), a major vector of Murray Valley encephalitis (MVEV) and Kunjin (KUNV) viruses. Subsequent to increases in notifications of MVEV disease cases in 2000 and 2001, a drainage system was established in the Ilparpa Swamp in early 2002. This paper evaluates the drainage intervention effects. Results indicate a significant reduction in mosquito numbers following habitat modification, which remain low. There have been no seroconversions in sentinel chickens to MVEV or KUNV and no human infections from these viruses in the Alice Springs urban region since the drains were completed. Habitat modification has successfully reduced mosquito numbers and minimized the risk for mosquito-borne disease to residents in Alice Springs urban and surrounding areas, which has never before been documented in Australia.     

Larval habitat segregation between the molecular forms of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae in a rice field area of Burkina Faso, West Africa

In West Africa, lineage splitting between the M and S molecular forms of the major Afro-tropical malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae (Diptera: Culicidae), is thought to be driven by ecological divergence, occurring mainly at the larval stage. Here, we present evidence for habitat segregation between the two molecular forms in and around irrigated rice fields located within the humid savannahs of western Burkina Faso. Longitudinal sampling of adult mosquitoes emerging from a range of breeding sites distributed along a transect extending from the heart of the rice field area into the surrounding savannah was conducted from June to November 2009. Analysis revealed that the two molecular forms and their sibling species Anopheles arabiensis are not randomly distributed in the area. A major ecological gradient was extracted in relation to the perimeter of the rice fields. The M form was associated with larger breeding sites mostly consisting of rice paddies, whereas the S form and An. arabiensis were found to depend upon temporary, rain-filled breeding sites. These results support hypotheses about larval habitat segregation and confirm the suggestion that the forms have different larval habitat requirements. Segregation appears to be clearly linked to anthropogenic permanent habitats and the community structure they support.     

Habitat connectivity is determined by the scale of habitat loss and dispersal strategy

Understanding factors that ameliorate the impact of habitat loss is a major focus of conservation research. One key factor influencing species persistence and evolution is the ability to disperse across increasingly patchy landscapes. Here we ask whether interpatch distance (a proxy for habitat loss) and dispersal strategy can interact to form thresholds where connectivity breaks down. We assayed dispersal across a range of interpatch distances in fruit flies carrying allelic variants of a gene known to underlie differences in dispersal strategy. Dispersal‐limited flies experienced a distinct negative threshold in connectivity at greater interpatch distances, and this was not observed in more dispersive flies. Consequently, this differential response of dispersal‐limited and more dispersive flies to decreasing connectivity suggests that habitat loss could have important implications on the evolution and maintenance of genetic variation underlying dispersal strategy.     

生境破碎化对植物-昆虫及昆虫之间相互关系的影响

生境破碎化对生物多样性和生态系统功能影响是当前国内外生态学家研究的热点问题之一。文章针对生境破碎化的内涵、量度指标进行介绍,着重分析生境破碎化对植物-昆虫关系的影响,包括植物与植食性昆虫的关系、植物与传粉昆虫的关系、种子与种子捕食者的关系,植物及其分解者的关系,还分析生境破碎化对昆虫-昆虫关系的影响,包括昆虫及其拟寄生物的关系、捕食者与猎物的关系。通过对上述方面的阐述,旨在更好地理解生境破碎化对动植物群落相互关系产生的深刻影响,并提出今后研究中应注意的问题和研究热点。     

Species traits help explain butterfly habitat use in a tropical forest

1. When species can access all parts of the landscape, species-sorting metacommunity theory predicts that community composition depends on habitat choice and interactions with other species and the environment. These filtering processes can also depend on species' traits.
2. The authors investigated how traits mediate a species-sorting process in determining butterfly community composition in a naturally patchy landscape in the tropical Western Ghats, India. The authors asked, do traits mediate access to certain habitats and does seasonality affect these patterns? The authors surveyed 56 habitat patches in three habitat types: laterite plateau grasslands, ridge grassland, and moist-deciduous forest, in a 65-km² landscape.
3. Non-palatable butterflies showed similar occurrences across seasons and habitats, but palatable butterflies were less commonly encountered in open habitats in the dry season. Polyphagous butterflies occurred infrequently in the dry season in laterite habitats, potentially indicating emigration or diapause patterns are linked to diet breadth.
4. All species were present in all habitats, implying dispersal does not limit access to different habitat patches, consistent with the species-sorting metacommunity concept. Nevertheless, butterfly occurrence was strongly influenced by the interaction of mobility and habitat type with sedentary species occurring less often in low-resource open laterite patches than mobile species.
5. Species sorting is typically regarded as occurring directly through environmental filters, but here the authors suggest that the environmental filter acts through movement limitations. Studies integrating landscape heterogeneity and species characteristics will help us better understand metacommunities and species distributions in nature.

     

Modelling the effect of habitat fragmentation on range expansion in a butterfly

There is an increasing need for conservation programmes to make quantitative predictions of biodiversity responses to changed environments. Such predictions will be particularly important to promote species recovery in fragmented landscapes, and to understand and facilitate distribution responses to climate change. Here, we model expansion rates of a test species (a rare butterfly, Hesperia comma) in five landscapes over 18 years (generations), using a metapopulation model (the incidence function model). Expansion rates increased with the area, quality and proximity of habitat patches available for colonization, with predicted expansion rates closely matching observed rates in test landscapes. Habitat fragmentation constrained expansion, but in a predictable way, suggesting that it will prove feasible both to understand variation in expansion rates and to develop conservation programmes to increase rates of range expansion in such species.     

Direct PCR of indigenous and invasive mosquito species: a time‐ and cost‐effective technique of mosquito barcoding

Millions of people die each year as a result of pathogens transmitted by mosquitoes. However, the morphological identification of mosquito species can be difficult even for experts. The identification of morphologically indistinguishable species, such as members of the Anopheles maculipennis complex (Diptera: Culicidae), and possible hybrids, such as Culex pipiens pipiens/Culex pipiens molestus (Diptera: Culicidae), presents a major problem. In addition, the detection and discrimination of newly introduced species can be challenging, particularly to researchers without previous experience. Because of their medical importance, the clear identification of all relevant mosquito species is essential. Using the direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method described here, DNA amplification without prior DNA extraction is possible and thus species identification after sequencing can be achieved. Different amounts of tissue (leg, head; larvae or adult) as well as different storage conditions (dry, ethanol, ?20 and ?80 °C) and storage times were successfully applied and showed positive results after amplification and gel electrophoresis. Overall, 28 different indigenous and non‐indigenous mosquito species were analysed using a gene fragment of the COX1 gene for species differentiation and identification by sequencing this 658‐bp fragment. Compared with standard PCR, this method is time‐ and cost‐effective and could thus improve existing surveillance and control programmes.     

Mosquitoes and other aquatic insects in fallow field biotopes and rice paddy fields

Fallow field biotopes that develop from abandoned rice fields are man‐made wetlands that provide new habitats for various aquatic animals. Although consideration of such biotopes generally focuses on their positive aspects, this study evaluated the negative aspects of establishing fallow field biotopes with regard to mosquito breeding sites. To determine whether fallow field biotopes become breeding habitats for vector mosquitoes, we evaluated mosquito fauna in fallow field biotopes and adjacent rice fields. We found larvae of Anopheles lesteri, Anopheles sinensis and Culex tritaeniorhynchus (all: Diptera: Culicidae) in the biotopes. Although abundances of mosquito larvae in the biotopes and rice fields were statistically similar, mosquito abundances in rice fields increased dramatically in August when the water level reduced after the rainy season. The abundance and variety of the mosquitoes' natural predators were greater in biotopes than in rice fields because the former are a permanent and stable aquatic environment. A generalized linear mixed model showed a negative effect of predator diversity on mosquito larvae abundance in both habitats. Although fallow field biotopes become breeding habitats for vector mosquitoes, establishing biotopes from fallow fields in order to protect various aquatic animals, including mosquito insect predators, may help to control mosquito breeding.     

A forest habitat network for the Atlantic Oakwoods in Highland region,Scotland

Summary

The need to conserve biological diversity and ensure the future viability and integrity of Atlantic oakwoods in a fragmented landscape has led to strategies that facilitate a more holistic view of biodiversity conservation across extensive areas. The Scottish Forestry Strategy contains a major aspiration to develop forest habitat networks through the restoration and improvement of existing woodland and the expansion of new woodland. The Forest Research landscape ecology model BEETLE (Biological and Environmental Evaluation Tools for Landscape Ecology) uses a focal species approach to assess the functional connectivity of habitat within the wider landscape matrix. This model has been used to predict the current habitat network for Atlantic oakwood specialists in the Highland region of Scotland. The analysis outputs are presented with an approach to help practitioners and planners visualise the opportunities to target expansion, conversion or restoration of Atlantic oakwoods and their intrinsic biodiversity.     

Recycling potential and selective retrieval of Bacillus sphaericus from soil in a mosquito habitat

A selective medium containing a combination of starch, milk proteins, and streptomycin was used as a reliable indicator for the presence of Bacillus sphaericus in soil samples collected from a mosquito habitat where this pathogen was previously applied. The medium can also be used as an indicator substrate to retrieve B. sphaericus from infected mosquito larvae. Results show that B. sphaericus remains viable and infective 9 months after application as a larvacidal agent of mosquitoes in a roadside ditch.     

Habitat quality favoured over familiarity: a rejection of natal habitat preference induction in the mosquito Aedes albopictus

1. Natal habitat preference induction (NHPI) is a behavioural phenomenon in which offspring show a change in preference in adult oviposition choice as a function of experience as an immature. 2. Although well known in certain systems, such as herbivorous insects, this behaviour has not been well studied in aquatic insects. 3. The container–breeding mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Skuse) was used to test if NHPI occurs in aquatic insects under natural conditions of two leaf species as a nutritive base (Juniperus virginiana L. and Quercus virginiana Mill) and two larval densities. 4. Significant effects of leaf species and density on adult mosquito attributes were found, with J. virginiana and low larval density associated with more, faster developing, larger and more fecund mosquitoes. However, no evidence for NHPI was found. Instead a canalised behavior was found that included spreading eggs between high– and low–quality oviposition choices in the same proportions regardless of larval experience.     

Multi‐scale effects of habitat structure and landscape context on a vertebrate with limited dispersal ability (the brown‐throated sloth,Bradypus variegatus)

As human population, food consumption, and demand for forest products continue to rise over the next century, the pressures of land‐use change on biodiversity are projected to intensify. In tropical regions, countryside habitats that retain abundant tree cover and structurally complex canopies may complement protected areas by providing suitable habitats and landscape connectivity for a significant portion of the native biota. Species with low dispersal capabilities are among the most at risk of extinction as a consequence of land‐use change. We assessed how the spatial distribution of the brown‐throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus), a model species for a vertebrate with limited dispersal ability, is shaped by differences in habitat structure and landscape patterns of countryside habitats in north‐central Costa Rica using a multi‐scale framework. We quantified the influence of local habitat characteristics and landscape context on sloth occurrence using mixed‐effects logistic regression models. We recorded 27 sloths within countryside habitats and found that both local and landscape factors significantly influenced their spatial distribution. Locally, sloths favored structurally complex habitats, with greater canopy cover and variation in tree height and basal area. At the landscape scale, sloths demonstrated a preference for habitats with high proportions of forest and nearby large tracts of forest. Although mixed‐use areas and tree plantations are not substitutes for protected forests, our results suggest they provide important supplemental habitats for sloths. To promote the conservation and long‐term viability of sloth populations in the tropical countryside, we recommend that land managers retain structurally complex vegetation and large patches of native habitat.     

Scales and costs of habitat selection in heterogeneous landscapes

Summary Two scales of habitat selection are likely to influence patterns of animal density in heterogeneous landscapes. At one scale, habitat selection is determined by the differential use of foraging locations within a home range. At a larger scale, habitat selection is determined by dispersal and the ability to relocate the home range. The limits of both scales must be known for accurate assessments of habitat selection and its role in effecting spatial patterns in abundance. Isodars, which specify the relationships between population density in two habitats such that the expected reproductive success of an individual is the same in both, allow us to distinguish the two scales of habitat selection because each scale has different costs. In a two-habitat environment, the cost of rejecting one of the habitats within a home range can be expressed as a devaluation of the other, because, for example, fine-grained foragers must travel through both. At the dispersal scale, the cost of accepting a new home range in a different habitat has the opposite effect of inflating the value of the original habitat to compensate for lost evolutionary potential associated with relocating the home range. These costs produce isodars at the foraging scale with a lower intercept and slope than those at the dispersal scale.Empirical data on deer mice occupying prairie and badland habitats in southern Alberta confirm the ability of isodar analysis to differentiate between foraging and dispersal scales. The data suggest a foraging range of approximately 60 m, and an effective dispersal distance near 140 m. The relatively short dispersal distance implies that recent theories may have over-emphasized the role of habitat selection on local population dynamics. But the exchange of individuals between habitats sharing irregular borders may be substantial. Dispersal distance may thus give a false impression of the inability of habitat selection to help regulate population density.     

Restoration for variability: emergence of the habitat diversity paradigm in terrestrial ecosystem restoration

Ecosystem restoration implies focusing on multiple trophic levels and ecosystem functioning, yet higher trophic levels, that is, animals, are less frequently targeted by restoration than plants. Habitat diversity, the spatial heterogeneity between and within habitat patches in a landscape, is a well‐known driver of species diversity, and offers possible ways to increase species diversity at multiple trophic levels. We argue that habitat diversity is central in whole‐ecosystem restoration as we review its importance, provide a practical definition for its components, and propose ways to target it in restoration. Restoration targeting habitat diversity is used commonly in aquatic ecosystems, mostly to increase the physical diversity of habitats, meant to provide more niches available to a higher number of animal species. To facilitate the uptake of habitat diversity in terrestrial ecosystem restoration, we distinguish between compositional and structural habitat diversity, because different animal groups will respond to different aspects of habitat diversity. We also propose four methods to increase habitat diversity: varying the starting conditions to obtain divergent successional pathways, emulating natural disturbances, establishing keystone structures, and applying ecosystem engineer species. We provide two case studies to illustrate how these components and methods can be incorporated in restoration. We conclude that targeting habitat diversity is a promising way to restore habitats for a multitude of species of animals and plants, and that it should become mainstream in restoration ecology and practice. We encourage the restoration community to consider compositional and structural habitat diversity and to specifically target habitat diversity in ecosystem restoration.     

Diversity and seasonal dynamic of a lizard assemblage in a Neotropical semiarid habitat

We assessed the lizard assemblage from a priority conservation Caatinga area from northeastern Brazil, through a pluriannual ecological approach, to expand the understanding on biodiversity patterns of Neotropical semiarid habitats. The studied area presented one of the richest lizard faunas among Caatinga sites, being composed primarily by species typical from open landscapes. The local species composition was more similar to assemblages from adjacent Caatinga ecoregions than to those from other areas within the same ecoregion. The inventoried lizard assemblage consisted of a few common species and a majority of low abundance ones, and its overall richness and abundance did not differ between rainy and dry months. Our findings demonstrated that the composition of lizard assemblages did not match with the current proposed Caatinga ecoregions, and revealed that the studied assemblage followed a lognormal species-abundance distribution, showing no significant seasonal fluctuation in richness and abundance.