Do Mosquitoes Destroy Crops?

Several species of mosquitoes are capable of spreading diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. They are a serious threat to the food supply. These pests can be controlled using insecticides or through biological control. These methods can be effective in the long term and don’t cause environmental pollution.

The Anopheles gambiae sensu lato mosquito is one of the most important malaria vectors. It has a high posterior probability for indoor biting. The relative abundance of this mosquito differed across sites. In some sites, the relative abundance was increased during surveillance, but in others, it was decreased. This may be due to the mosquito being replaced by another species.

A probit regression model was conducted to assess the relationship between agricultural coverage and Anopheles mosquito biting indoors. Three separate models were tested, including random intercepts that varied across surveillance sites. The model that had independently varying intercepts yielded the best fit to DHS data.

The probability of A gambiae sensu lato biting indoors ranged from 11*3% to 19*7%, depending on the season. The probability decreased with increases in agricultural coverage. This may be due to a decrease in the relative abundance of A funestus mosquito, which can affect the probability of indoor biting by A gambiae.

Anopheles nili is another malaria vector, but the probability of biting indoors is not significantly different from the probability of indoor biting by A moucheti sensu lato. These two species may be replaced by A gambiae sensu lato.

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