Evaluation of the effectiveness of BG-Sentinel and CDC light traps in assessing the abundance, richness, and community composition of mosquitoes in rural and natural areas

Background: Vector-borne diseases are a major burden to public health. Controlling mosquitoes is considered the most effective way to prevent vector-borne disease transmission. Mosquito surveillance is a core component of integrated vector management, as surveillance programs are often the cornerstone for the development of mosquito control operations. Two traps are the most commonly used for the surveillance of adult mosquitoes: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention miniature light trap (CDC light trap) and BG-Sentinel trap (BioGents, Regensburg, Germany). However, despite the importance of the BG-Sentinel trap in surveillance programs in the United States, especially in the Southern states, its effectiveness in consistently and reliably collecting mosquitoes in rural and natural areas is still unknown. We hypothesized that BG-Sentinel and CDC light traps would be more attractive to specific mosquito species present in rural and natural areas. Therefore, our objective was to compare the relative abundance, species richness, and community composition of mosquitoes collected in natural and rural areas by BG-Sentinel and CDC light traps. Methods: Mosquitoes were collected from October 2020 to March 2021 using BG-Sentinel and CDC light traps baited with dry ice, totaling 105 trap-nights. Results: The BG-Sentinel traps collected 195,115 mosquitoes comprising 23 species from eight genera, and the CDC light traps collected 188,594 mosquitoes comprising 23 species from eight genera. The results from the permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) and generalized estimating equation model for repeated measures indicate the BG-Sentinel and CDC light traps had similar sampling power. Conclusion: Even though BG-Sentinel traps had a slightly better performance, the difference was not statistically significant indicating that both traps are suitable to be used in mosquito surveillance in rural and natural areas. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]