Forecasting the spatial and seasonal dynamic of Aedes albopictus oviposition activity in Albania and Balkan countries

The increasing spread of the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, in Europe and US raises public health concern due to the species competence to transmit several exotic human arboviruses, among which dengue, chikungunya and Zika, and urges the development of suitable modeling approach to forecast the spatial and temporal distribution of the mosquito. Here we developed a dynamical species distribution modeling approach forecasting Ae. albopictus eggs abundance at high spatial (0.01 degree WGS84) and temporal (weekly) resolution over 10 Balkan countries, using temperature times series of Modis data products and altitude as input predictors. The model was satisfactorily calibrated and validated over Albania based observed eggs abundance data weekly monitored during three years. For a given week of the year, eggs abundance was mainly predicted by the number of eggs and the mean temperature recorded in the preceding weeks. That is, results are in agreement with the biological cycle of the mosquito, reflecting the effect temperature on eggs spawning, maturation and hatching. The model, seeded by initial egg values derived from a second model, was then used to forecast the spatial and temporal distribution of eggs abundance over the selected Balkan countries, weekly in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The present study is a baseline to develop an easy-handling forecasting model able to provide information useful for promoting active surveillance and possibly prevention of Ae. albopictus colonization in presently non-infested areas in the Balkans as well as in other temperate regions

AIMSurv: First pan-European harmonized surveillance of Aedes invasive mosquito species of relevance for human vector-borne diseases

Human and animal vector-borne diseases, particularly mosquito-borne diseases, are emerging or re-emerging worldwide. Six Aedes invasive mosquito (AIM) species were introduced to Europe since the 1970s: Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Ae. japonicus, Ae. koreicus, Ae. atropalpus and Ae. triseriatus. Here, we report the results of AIMSurv2020, the first pan-European surveillance effort for AIMs. Implemented by 42 volunteer teams from 24 countries. And presented in the form of a dataset named “AIMSurv Aedes Invasive Mosquito species harmonized surveillance in Europe. AIM-COST Action. Project ID: CA17108”. AIMSurv2020 harmonizes field surveillance methodologies for sampling different AIMs life stages, frequency and minimum length of sampling period, and data reporting. Data include minimum requirements for sample types and recommended requirements for those teams with more resources. Data are published as a Darwin Core archive in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility- Spain, comprising a core file with 19,130 records (EventID) and an occurrences file with 19,743 records (OccurrenceID). AIM species recorded in AIMSurv2020 were Ae. albopictus, Ae. japonicus and Ae. koreicus, as well as native mosquito species

Small terrestrial mammals of Albania: annotated list and distribution

Abstract:
 <strong>Abstract</strong>
 We report for Albania new records of small terrestrial mammals (Erinaceomorpha, Soricomorpha, Rodentia) and outline previously published data. Twenty-four species (one hedgehog, six soricomorhps and 17 rodents) have been collected in 161 localities surveyed throughout the country. Nine species (<em>Neomys anomalus</em>, <em>Crocidura leucodon</em>, <em>Talpa stankovici</em>, <em>Dryomys nitedula</em>, <em>Muscardinus avellanarius</em>, <em>Micromys minutus</em>, <em>Mus macedonicus</em>, <em>Myodes glareolus</em>, and <em>Microtus thomasi</em>) are recorded for Albania for the first time. The present list is far from being complete and presence of a further 11 species has to be confirmed.
 
 <strong>Riassunto</strong>
 <strong>I Micromammiferi dell'Albania: status e distribuzione</strong>
 Viene presentato un quadro della distribuzione dei micromammiferi in Albania, evidenziando le specie di recente scoperta così come alcuni dati già pubblicati. L'esame di 161 località distribuite sull'intero territorio nazionale ha permesso di raccogliere informazioni sulla presenza di 24 specie di micromammiferi (1 Erinaceomorpha, 6 Soricomorpha e 17 Rodentia). Nove specie  (<em>Neomys anomalus</em>, <em>Crocidura leucodon</em>, <em>Talpa stankovici</em>, <em>Dryomys nitedula</em>, <em>Muscardinus avellanarius</em>, <em>Micromys minutus</em>, <em>Mus macedonicus</em>, <em>Myodes glareolus</em>, e <em>Microtus thomasi</em>) vengono segnalate per la prima volta. L'elenco qui presentato non può essere considerato definitivo. Ulteriori ricerche potrebbero accertare la presenza di altre 11 specie

Distribution of sandflies (Diptera, Psychodidae) in two Ionian islands and Northern Greece

A field study on the distribution of phlebotomine sandflies was carried out during summer months of 2009 and 2010 in eight sites in two Ionian islands and in northern Greece. A total of 490 sandflies (74.5% females) were collected. Six species of the Phlebotomus genus and two of the Sergentomyia genus were identified. The species with the widest distribution in the islands were Phlebotomus neglectus (32.8%), Phlebotomus similis (30.3%), Phlebotomus tobbi (16.7%), and P. perfiliewi (15.9%), whereas P. simici (50%), P. neglectus (24.5%), and P. tobbi (9.6%) predominated in the mainland. As most of these species are proven or suspected vectors of human and animal pathogens, prevention measures have to be taken in these areas during the summer months when sandflies are active

Conditional effects of selected predictors (x-axis) on the egg abundances (y-axis) in the the final Core zero-inflated negative binomial model.

<p>Conditional effects of selected predictors (x-axis) on the egg abundances (y-axis) in the the final Core zero-inflated negative binomial model.</p

Mean annual and monthly <i>Aedes albopictus</i> eggs abundance projected by the forecasting model over the period 2009–2013 for the three regions located in the southern (region A), middle (region B) and northern part (region C) of Balkan countries.

<p>The central statistics (percentile p50) and the associated error bars (percentiles p10 and p90) of each barplot were calculated from 100 bootstrap models projections, averaged over the three regions of interest.</p

Goodness-of-fit assessment for the forecasting model applied to the validation and calibration sites, based on 100 bootstrap model projections.

<p>a) according to the monitoring week of the year and b) according to the week of model initialization.</p

Parameters, standard deviation and significance for the best Core (zero inflated negative binomial model; zeroinf-nb), Init (GLM negative binomial model; glm-nb) and Max models (GLM negative binomial model; glm-nb).

<p>Parameters, standard deviation and significance for the best Core (zero inflated negative binomial model; zeroinf-nb), Init (GLM negative binomial model; glm-nb) and Max models (GLM negative binomial model; glm-nb).</p

Annual mean percentiles of 10% (p10), 50% (p50) and 90% (p90) of <i>Aedes albopictus</i> eggs abundance projected by the forecasting model over Balkan countries in year 2012.

<p>The darker the color the more projected abundance by the model.</p

Spatial and temporal experimental semi-variograms calculated from the final Core model residuals, highlighting low autocorrelation in model residuals (the black line indicated the smoothed trend).

<p>Spatial and temporal experimental semi-variograms calculated from the final Core model residuals, highlighting low autocorrelation in model residuals (the black line indicated the smoothed trend).</p