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. 2019 Apr 3;12(1):153.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-019-3417-8.

Mosquito biodiversity and mosquito-borne viruses in the United Arab Emirates

Jeremy V Camp  1 , Noushad Karuvantevida  2 , Houda Chouhna  2 , Ebtesam Safi  2 , Junid N Shah  3 , Norbert Nowotny  4   5
Affiliations

Mosquito biodiversity and mosquito-borne viruses in the United Arab Emirates

Jeremy V Camp et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Background: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusions: 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.

Keywords: Bagaza virus; Barkedji virus; Flavivirus; Urbanization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mosquito sampling locations in the United Arab Emirates: Dubai (2 sites), Al Ain (3 sites), and Wadi Wurayah in Fujairah emirate (black points plotted on background map, labels and shading added: ©OpenStreetMap contributors, CC BY-SA)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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