How the mosquito community of urban parks changes from forest edge to forest interior

Mosquito communities are affected by numerous ecological factors, including the abiotic environment, access to appropriate rearing sites, competition, and proximity of hosts. Several species of mosquitoes are medically important due to their ability to transmit diseases like West Nile virus and La Crosse encephalitis. When vector populations have access to egg-laying sites near residential spaces, they become a nuisance to human populations and potentially increase the rate of pathogen transmission. Therefore, our study aims to analyze the mosquito communities near residential spaces that arise from within urban parks. Using three different sampling methods, we surveyed the diversity and abundance of mosquitoes along a forest edge and forest interior (300m). A nuisance species, Aedes trivittatus was exclusively found along the forest edge, whereas Culex pipiens/restuans was found equally abundant at both trapping locations. Because Culex pipiens/restuans is the main transmitter of West Nile virus, its presence in the forest interior could indicate it uses these urban parks as refuges and potential disease reservoirs. This analysis is ongoing to assess mosquito community diversity and yearly distribution changes more accurately.