Diversity and Abundance of Mosquitoes Inhabiting Waste Tires in a Subtropical Swamp in Urban Florida.

Automobile tires discarded in urban forest fragments may be a public health hazard, as they can support a population of vector mosquitoes. However, little is known about what factors may affect mosquito abundance and diversity within waste tires in a freshwater wetland forest. This study aimed to determine whether mosquito population dynamics in this environment in Florida differed over a year due to the site of collection and variation in vegetation greenness and elevation. We constructed negative binomial regression models to determine which of these characteristics were significant ( = 0.05) in affecting mosquito count data. Our findings suggest that in this specific environment, none of the covariates scrutinized had significant impacts on modulating overall mosquito and (the dominant species) abundance; waste tire habitats in urban freshwater wetland forests may be a year-round public health hazard.