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Shift in the spatial and temporal distribution of Aedes taeniorhynchus following environmental and local developments in St. Johns County, Florida

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Abstract

The Anastasia Mosquito Control District (AMCD) of St. Johns County (SJC), St. Augustine, Florida, USA, was formed in 1948 to cover the 27 km2 of Anastasia Island and control the black salt marsh mosquito, Aedes taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann). Today AMCD covers the entirety of SJC (1588 km2) and Ae. taeniorhynchus is still the most abundant mosquito species in the county. Here we present the findings from 16 years’ worth of surveillance records of AMCD mosquito populations in conjunction with annual land-use land-cover (LULC) change and climate data to better understand how environmental factors have impacted SJC Ae. taeniorhynchus populations in recent history. The statistical regression and geospatial analyses demonstrated the presence of spatial and temporal clusters of Ae. taeniorhynchus populations in terms of abundance and distribution. Additionally, Ae. taeniorhynchus abundance and distribution were significantly influenced by the annual changes of LULC and climate variables. The linear regression analysis using standard least square and corrected Akaike Information Criterion revealed a migration of mangrove swamps and saltwater marshes that corresponded to a southern shift in the spatial–temporal distribution of Ae. taeniorhynchus communities. This was confirmed by the significant change in LULC characteristics between three representative years (2004, 2009, 2014) and the redistribution of Ae. taeniorhynchus abundances represented by Moran’s I index values. The annual values of four climate variables (average and minimum temperature, mean dew point, and maximum vapor pressure deficit) and three LULC types (mangrove swamps, saltwater pools within saltmarshes, and upland nonforested) significantly predicted annual abundance and redistribution of Ae. taeniorhynchus.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M.K. Gaines and other employees at AMCD that maintained the AMCD historical data archives. This research was supported/funded by the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Natick Contracting Division, Ft. Detrick, MD under the Deployed War Fighter Protection (DWFP) Program W911QY2010004 awarded to AMCD.

Funding

This research was supported/funded by the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Natick Contracting Division, Ft. Detrick, MD under Deployed War Fighter Protection (DWFP) Program W911QY2010004 awarded to AMCD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anastasia Mosquito Control District, St. Augustine, FL, 32092, USA

    Whitney A. Qualls, Madeline R. Steck, James R. Weaver & Rui-de Xue

  2. Navy Entomology Center of Excellence, Jacksonville, FL, 32217, USA

    Mohamed F. Sallam

  3. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China

    Yong Zhang

  4. Biology and Evolution Department, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, NV, USA

    Mohamed F. Sallam

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  1. Whitney A. Qualls
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  2. Madeline R. Steck
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  4. Yong Zhang
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  5. Rui-de Xue
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WAQ and RDX conceptualized the manuscript. MRS and MFS contributed significantly to data compilation, organization, and performed all analyses and data interpretation. WAQ, JRW, MRS, YZ, MFS, and RDX contributed to writing the paper.

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Correspondence to Whitney A. Qualls.

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Qualls, W.A., Steck, M.R., Weaver, J.R. et al. Shift in the spatial and temporal distribution of Aedes taeniorhynchus following environmental and local developments in St. Johns County, Florida. Wetlands Ecol Manage 30, 1065–1080 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-021-09816-6

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