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HABITAT SEGREGATION OF DENGUE VECTORS ALONG AN URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL GRADIENT

Differential distributions of Aedes aegypti and Ae. mediovittatus (potential inter-epidemic dengue vector) and other mosquitoes colonizing bamboo pots in San Juan, Puerto Rico were studied along an urban-rural gradient. City regions (urban, suburban, and rural) and landscape elements within regions (forest [F], low-density housing [LDH], and high-density housing [HDH]) were identified using satellite imagery. Aedes species extensively overlapped in LDH of urban, suburban, and rural areas. Mosquito species showed their high specificity for landscape elements (96.6% correct classification by discriminant analysis); absence of Ae. mediovittatus in HDH or absence of Ae. aegypti in forests were the main indicator variables. The gradient was explained using a canonical correspondence analysis, which showed the association of Ae. aegypti with HDH in urban areas, Culex quinquefasciatus with LDH in suburbs, and Ae. mediovittatus and other native mosquitoes (Cx. antillummagnorum, Toxorhynchites portoricencis) with less disturbed habitats (forests, LDH).

Received July 31, 2006. Accepted for publication January 14, 2007.

Acknowledgments: We thank Juan Medina and Angel Berrios for help in the laboratory and field, and the residents of San Juan, Puerto Rico for letting us place the bamboo pots on their property.

Financial support: This study was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC fellowship training program in vector-borne diseases at Yale University, the Yale Center for International and Area Studies, and the Tinker Foundation, Inc.

^* Address correspondence to Roberto Barrera, Dengue Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1324 Calle Cañada, San Juan, PR 00920. E-mail: rbarrera{at}cdc.gov

Authors’ addresses: Jonathan Cox, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, E-mail: jonathan.cox{at}yale.edu. Maria E. Grillet, Laboratorio de Biología de Vectores, Instituto de Zoología Tropical, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas 1041-A, Venezuela, E-mail: mgrillet{at}ciens.ucv.ve. Olga M. Ramos, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Jardín Botánico Sur 1201 Calle Ceiba, Río Piedras, PR 00926-1119, E-mail: oramos{at}fs.fed.us. Manuel Amador and Roberto Barrera, Dengue Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1324 Calle Cañada, San Juan, PR 00920, Telephone: 787-706-2399, Fax: 787-706-2496, E-mails: mamador{at}cdc.gov and rbarrera{at}cdc.gov.