Abstract
The catastrophic 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, led to the large-scale displacement of over 2.3 million people, resulting in rapid and unplanned urbanization in northern Haiti. This study evaluated the impact of this unplanned urbanization on mosquito ecology and vector-borne diseases by assessing land use and change patterns. Land-use classification and change detection were carried out on remotely sensed images of the area for 2010 and 2013. Change detection identified areas that went from agricultural, forest, or bare-land pre-earthquake to newly developed and urbanized areas post-earthquake. Areas to be sampled for mosquito larvae were subsequently identified. Mosquito collections comprised five genera and ten species, with the most abundant species being Culex quinquefasciatus 35% (304/876), Aedes albopictus 27% (238/876), and Aedes aegypti 20% (174/876). All three species were more prevalent in urbanized and newly urbanized areas. Anopheles albimanus, the predominate malaria vector, accounted for less than 1% (8/876) of the collection. A set of spectral indices derived from the recently launched Landsat 8 satellite was used as covariates in a species distribution model. The indices were used to produce probability surfaces maps depicting the likelihood of presence of the three most abundant species within 30 m pixels. Our findings suggest that the rapid urbanization following the 2010 earthquake has increased the amount of area with suitable habitats for urban mosquitoes, likely influencing mosquito ecology and posing a major risk of introducing and establishing emerging vector-borne diseases.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 46-58 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Vector Ecology |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 1 2015 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- Aedes albopictus
- Earthquake
- Haiti
- Mosquitoes
- Rapid urbanization
- Remote sensing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Ecology
Cite this
New baseline environmental assessment of mosquito ecology in northern Haiti during increased urbanization. / Samson, Dayana M.; Archer, Reginald S.; Alimi, Temitope O.; Arheart, Kristopher; Impoinvil, Daniel E.; Oscar, Roland; Fuller, Douglas; Qualls, Whitney A.
In: Journal of Vector Ecology, Vol. 40, No. 1, 01.06.2015, p. 46-58.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - New baseline environmental assessment of mosquito ecology in northern Haiti during increased urbanization
AU - Samson, Dayana M.
AU - Archer, Reginald S.
AU - Alimi, Temitope O.
AU - Arheart, Kristopher
AU - Impoinvil, Daniel E.
AU - Oscar, Roland
AU - Fuller, Douglas
AU - Qualls, Whitney A.
PY - 2015/6/1
Y1 - 2015/6/1
N2 - The catastrophic 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, led to the large-scale displacement of over 2.3 million people, resulting in rapid and unplanned urbanization in northern Haiti. This study evaluated the impact of this unplanned urbanization on mosquito ecology and vector-borne diseases by assessing land use and change patterns. Land-use classification and change detection were carried out on remotely sensed images of the area for 2010 and 2013. Change detection identified areas that went from agricultural, forest, or bare-land pre-earthquake to newly developed and urbanized areas post-earthquake. Areas to be sampled for mosquito larvae were subsequently identified. Mosquito collections comprised five genera and ten species, with the most abundant species being Culex quinquefasciatus 35% (304/876), Aedes albopictus 27% (238/876), and Aedes aegypti 20% (174/876). All three species were more prevalent in urbanized and newly urbanized areas. Anopheles albimanus, the predominate malaria vector, accounted for less than 1% (8/876) of the collection. A set of spectral indices derived from the recently launched Landsat 8 satellite was used as covariates in a species distribution model. The indices were used to produce probability surfaces maps depicting the likelihood of presence of the three most abundant species within 30 m pixels. Our findings suggest that the rapid urbanization following the 2010 earthquake has increased the amount of area with suitable habitats for urban mosquitoes, likely influencing mosquito ecology and posing a major risk of introducing and establishing emerging vector-borne diseases.
AB - The catastrophic 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, led to the large-scale displacement of over 2.3 million people, resulting in rapid and unplanned urbanization in northern Haiti. This study evaluated the impact of this unplanned urbanization on mosquito ecology and vector-borne diseases by assessing land use and change patterns. Land-use classification and change detection were carried out on remotely sensed images of the area for 2010 and 2013. Change detection identified areas that went from agricultural, forest, or bare-land pre-earthquake to newly developed and urbanized areas post-earthquake. Areas to be sampled for mosquito larvae were subsequently identified. Mosquito collections comprised five genera and ten species, with the most abundant species being Culex quinquefasciatus 35% (304/876), Aedes albopictus 27% (238/876), and Aedes aegypti 20% (174/876). All three species were more prevalent in urbanized and newly urbanized areas. Anopheles albimanus, the predominate malaria vector, accounted for less than 1% (8/876) of the collection. A set of spectral indices derived from the recently launched Landsat 8 satellite was used as covariates in a species distribution model. The indices were used to produce probability surfaces maps depicting the likelihood of presence of the three most abundant species within 30 m pixels. Our findings suggest that the rapid urbanization following the 2010 earthquake has increased the amount of area with suitable habitats for urban mosquitoes, likely influencing mosquito ecology and posing a major risk of introducing and establishing emerging vector-borne diseases.
KW - Aedes albopictus
KW - Earthquake
KW - Haiti
KW - Mosquitoes
KW - Rapid urbanization
KW - Remote sensing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84930342045&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84930342045&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jvec.12131
DO - 10.1111/jvec.12131
M3 - Article
C2 - 26047183
AN - SCOPUS:84930342045
VL - 40
SP - 46
EP - 58
JO - Journal of Vector Ecology
JF - Journal of Vector Ecology
SN - 1081-1710
IS - 1
ER -