Potential breeding containers of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894) at strategic points in a city in the eastern region of Maranhão

Abstract Potential breeding containers for Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are found in different environments, these places are considered by the National Dengue Control Program in Brazil as strategic points (SP), which have favorable conditions for the development of those insects. The aim of this study is to identify potential breeding containers for A. aegypti and A. albopictus at strategic points in the city of Codó, Maranhão. This study was conducted in five districts, one in each administrative area of the city. A survey of the types and quantity of existing strategic points in each neighborhood was carried out, and surveys of these properties were carried out to inspect the potential breeding containers, with the collection of the vectors’ number of immatures found at them. 125 properties were inspected of which 76.91% and 81.25% were vacant lots in the dry and rainy seasons, respectively. There was a difference between the median of the different strategic points (H = 21.96; p < 0.0001), For A. aegypti, there was no difference between the medians of number of immatures regarding the strategic points (H = 3.71; p = 0.28). The total number of immature A. albopictus was higher in vacant lots than in workshops (H = 9.41; p = 0.02, p < 0.05). 4,356 and 4,911 potential breeding containers were found in the dry and rainy seasons, respectively. Regarding the potential breeding containers, 7 (0.16%) and 47 (0.96%) were found with immature vectors, in the dry and rainy seasons, respectively. There were more positive containers in the rainy season for which there was a difference between the median of the number of mosquitoes per positive container (H = 15.66; p = 0.01), the number of immatures for the tires group was greater than Vases and Fixed groups (p < 0.05); the same result was observed in the analyses of the species in the separate form. The impressive number of potential breeding containers found in the SP in both seasons highlights the importance of developing control strategies for these vectors, with emphasis on places such as vacant lots, workshops, tire shops and junkyards, which are serving as dispersal urban sites of vectors

Viabilidade de ovos de Aedes aegypti (Diptera, Culicidae) em diferentes condições de armazenamento em Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil

The viability of Aedes aegypti eggs was assessed in the Amazon region. The eggs were maintained under different conditions: indoors (insectarium) and outdoors (natural environment), as well as in different storage types (plastic cup, paper envelope, plastic bag) for different days. Egg viability was measured as the mean of hatchings observed from egg-bearing sheets of filter paper immersed in water, using three sheets randomly selected from each storage type and at both sites. There were significant differences in the viability of Ae. aegypti eggs with respect to the location (F=30.40; DF=1; P<0.0001), storage type (F=17.66; DF=2; P<0.0001), and time of storage (F=49.56; DF=9; P<0.0001). The interaction between storage site versus storage type was also significant (F=15.96; DF=2; P<0.0001). A higher hatching mean was observed for the eggs kept in the insectarium than for those outdoors (32.38 versus 7.46). Hatching rates of egg batches stored for 12 to 61 days ranged between 84 and 90%. A reduction was observed between 89 and 118 days, with values of 63 and 48%, respectively. With respect to type of storage, mean egg hatching was higher for the eggs in plastic cups (44.46). It was concluded that the viability of the eggs of Ae. aegypti in the Amazon region remains high up to 4 months, after which it declines drastically, although in this study hatching occurred for up to 8 months in very low percentages. © 2017, Instituto Internacional de Ecologia. All rights reserved

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Eggs viability of Aedes aegypti Linnaeus (Diptera, Culicidae) under different environmental and storage conditions in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract The viability of Aedes aegypti eggs was assessed in the Amazon region. The eggs were maintained under different conditions: indoors (insectarium) and outdoors (natural environment), as well as in different storage types (plastic cup, paper envelope, plastic bag) for different days. Egg viability was measured as the mean of hatchings observed from egg-bearing sheets of filter paper immersed in water, using three sheets randomly selected from each storage type and at both sites. There were significant differences in the viability of Ae. aegypti eggs with respect to the location (F=30.40; DF=1; P<0.0001), storage type (F=17.66; DF=2; P<0.0001), and time of storage (F=49.56; DF=9; P<0.0001). The interaction between storage site versus storage type was also significant (F=15.96; DF=2; P<0.0001). A higher hatching mean was observed for the eggs kept in the insectarium than for those outdoors (32.38 versus 7.46). Hatching rates of egg batches stored for 12 to 61 days ranged between 84 and 90%. A reduction was observed between 89 and 118 days, with values of 63 and 48%, respectively. With respect to type of storage, mean egg hatching was higher for the eggs in plastic cups (44.46). It was concluded that the viability of the eggs of Ae. aegypti in the Amazon region remains high up to 4 months, after which it declines drastically, although in this study hatching occurred for up to 8 months in very low percentages