Viral Zoonoses, Emerging and Vector-borne Infections Group, Institute of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Parasit Vectors. 2019 Apr 3;12(1):153. doi: 10.1186/s13071-019-3417-8.
In the last 50 years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has experienced rapid population growth and urbanization. Urbanization is known to influence biodiversity, and there appears to be a link between the emergence of arboviruses and urban growth. Very little is known about the UAE mosquito species richness and dominant vectors. We performed a mosquito survey comparing peri-urban sites in Dubai and Al Ain to a protected, natural site in Fujairah emirate. We measured mosquito biodiversity and species composition, and screened mosquito pools for common arboviruses to measure arbovirus activity in the region.
We report ten species of mosquitoes from the UAE, with highest species diversity in the natural site, a protected wadi near the eastern coast. The predominant mosquito was Culex perexiguus, and was associated with peri-urban habitats. The site with lowest mosquito species diversity but relatively high species richness was the peri-urban site of Al Ain Zoo, where we identified Bagaza virus and Barkedji virus, two flaviviruses, in pools of Cx. perexiguus.
Decreased mosquito biodiversity was associated with increased levels of urbanization. The predominance of two species at peri-urban sites was related to the availability of their larval habitats. Arboviruses were associated with the presence of a single predominant mosquito species, Cx. perexiguus.
在过去的 50 年里，阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）经历了人口的快速增长和城市化。城市化被认为会影响生物多样性，并且似乎在虫媒病毒的出现和城市发展之间存在联系。关于阿联酋的蚊子物种丰富度和主要媒介，人们知之甚少。我们进行了一项蚊子调查，比较了迪拜和艾因的城郊地区与富查伊拉酋长国一个受保护的自然地区。我们测量了蚊子的生物多样性和物种组成，并对蚊子进行了常见虫媒病毒的筛查，以衡量该地区的虫媒病毒活动。
我们报告了来自阿联酋的十种蚊子，其中自然地区的物种多样性最高，该自然地区是东部沿海受保护的瓦迪。优势蚊子是库蚊属（Culex）的埃及伊蚊（Cx. perexiguus），与城郊栖息地有关。蚊子物种多样性最低但物种丰富度相对较高的是艾因动物园的城郊地区，我们在埃及伊蚊的蚊子池中鉴定出了两种黄病毒，巴加病毒和巴尔迪基病毒。
城市化程度的提高与蚊子生物多样性的减少有关。两种蚊种在城郊地区的优势与它们的幼虫栖息地的可用性有关。虫媒病毒与埃及伊蚊（Cx. perexiguus）这一主要蚊子物种的存在有关。
