Institute of Zoology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1880, Vienna, Austria.
Department of Zoology, University of Extremadura, Avenida de Elvas s/n, 06006, Badajoz, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jun 19;9(1):8779. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-45068-4.
The presence of insect vectors is a key prerequisite for transmission of vector-borne disease such as avian haemosporidians. In general, the effects of land use change on Diptera vectors are not well studied; the response of vectors to forest management depends on vector species, as has been shown previously for the birds. We tested if abundance of insects from different Diptera families and haemosporidian infection are affected through alteration of habitat structural variables (measured by LiDAR) and forest management intensities. We identified higher large-scale variation of female insect abundance in northeastern than in southwestern Germany. Unmanaged forest stands had higher Diptera insect abundances. We found that abundance of female Diptera increased with the amount of forest gaps but decreased in forest plots with more south facing aspect, higher habitat structural heterogeneity, temperature and humidity. We found that haemosporidian infections in Diptera insects increased with increased management intensity and more canopy structural diversity (e.g., amount of edge habitat), but decreased with a denser shrub layer, deeper leaf litter and higher humidity (characteristics for unmanaged forest stands). Although higher forest management intensity decreased vector abundance, the haemosporidian infections in the vectors increased, indicating a significant effect of forest management on disease dynamics.
昆虫媒介的存在是虫媒病（如禽血孢子虫病）传播的关键前提。一般来说，土地利用变化对双翅目媒介的影响尚未得到很好的研究；媒介对森林管理的反应取决于媒介物种，这在鸟类中已经得到了证实。我们通过改变栖息地结构变量（通过 LiDAR 测量）和森林管理强度来测试不同双翅目科的昆虫丰度和血液寄生虫感染是否受到影响。我们发现，德国东北部的昆虫雌性丰度比西南部的变化更大。未管理的森林中双翅目昆虫的数量更多。我们发现，雌性双翅目昆虫的数量随着森林空隙数量的增加而增加，但在向阳度更高、栖息地结构异质性更高、温度和湿度更高的森林样地中则减少。我们发现，血液寄生虫在双翅目昆虫中的感染随着管理强度的增加和冠层结构多样性（例如，边缘生境的数量）的增加而增加，但随着灌木层密度的增加、落叶层深度的增加和湿度的增加（未管理森林的特征）而减少。尽管更高的森林管理强度会降低媒介的丰度，但媒介中的血液寄生虫感染却增加了，这表明森林管理对疾病动态有重大影响。
