2007/08/30 by Stephen Munga, Noboru Minakawa, Guofa Zhou +2 · 1 citation
Medicine · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Mosquito-borne diseases and control #Malaria Research and Control #Insect Pest Control Strategies #Biology #Dytiscidae #Anopheles gambiae #Survivorship curve #Habitat #Ecology #Predation #Larva #Productivity #Malaria
paper · doi:10.1603/0022-2585(2007)44[758:soisoa]2.0.co;2
openalex publication_date 2007/08/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We examined the survivorship of Anopheles gambiae s.l. Giles (Diptera: Culicidae) larvae and habitat productivity in three major habitat types in the western Kenya highlands. The age-specific distribution was determined for larvae and pupae, and survivorship curves were constructed. Larval-to-pupal survivorship was 6.8% in drainage ditches, 4.3% in cow hoofprints, and 1.8% in disused goldmines, respectively. High mortality rates were observed in all developmental stages. The estimated daily survival rate was highest in drainage ditches (0.74), followed by cow hoofprints (0.71), and it was lowest in disused goldmines (0.62). Productivity of emerging An. gambiae adults was generally low in these larval habitats (1.35, 1.55, and 1.84 mosquitoes per m2 per wk in drainage ditches, disused goldmines, and cow hoofprints, respectively). In total, seven families of larval mosquito predators were identified from the larval habitats, including Hydrophilidae, Dytiscidae, Corixidae, Nepidae, Notonectidae, Belostomatidae, and Cordulidae. Predator density in disused goldmines was significantly higher than that of other habitat types. Determination of the relative importance of predation, habitat stability and food contents on natural mosquito habitat productivity would help to design cost-effective vector control methods specifically targeted at the productive habitats.