Ecology of larval mosquitoes, with special reference to Anopheles arabiensis (Diptera: Culcidae) in market-garden wells in urban Dakar, Senegal.

The urban area of Dakar, Senegal, contains > 5,000 market-garden wells that provide permanent sites for mosquito larvae, in particular Anopheles arabiensis Patton, the major vector of malaria. A study of the bioecology of mosquito larvae was conducted over 1 yr with a monthly visit to 48 of these wells. Overall, 9,589 larvae were collected of which 80.1% were Culicinae and 11.9% Anophelinae. Larvae from stages III and IV (n = 853) were identified to 10 species. An. arabiensis represented 86% of the anophelines collected and An. ziemanni Grunberg 14%. The most common Culicinae species included Aedeomyia africana Neveu-Lemaire, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, and Mimomyia splendens Theobald. Maximum anopheline abundance was observed at the end of the dry season in June, whereas maximum Culicinae abundance was observed at the end of the rainy season in September. Most wells (67%) did not harbor any An. arabiensis larvae and in the remaining 33% the larval abundance was low, averaging 0.54 larvae in stages III-IV per tray sample. To identify factors that determine the abundance of larvae in these wells, a co-inertia (multivariate) analysis was carried out to account for physicochemical variables (depth, turbidity, temperature, pH, conductivity, Na+, Cl-, HCO3-, CO3--, and NO3- concentrations) and biological variables (abundance of mosquito species, predators [e.g., fish, Dytiscidae, Notonectidae, odonates], molluscs [Bulinus and Biomphalaria], and surface plants [water lettuce, Lemna, and filamentous algae]). The co-inertia analysis indicated that the abundance of An. arabiensis was associated with Cx. quinquefasciatus and Cx. decens for the physiochemical data but was not associated with other mosquito species for floro-faunistic data. The conditions associated with abundant An. arabiensis were warm temperature (28-30 degrees C), clear and not too deep water (< 0.5 m), elevated concentrations of HCO3- and CO3--, low concentrations of NO3- and NaCl, low populations of larvivorous fish and invertebrate predators (notably odonates), the presence of water lettuce, and an absence of Lemna. These results indicate that many contributing factors influence the ecology of the immature stages of An. arabiensis.