title: Overcoming the challenges of mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) sampling in remote localities: a comparison of CO2 attractants on mosquito communities in three tropical forest habitats.
abstract: Emerging infectious diseases are on the rise with future outbreaks predicted to occur in frontier regions of tropical countries. Disease surveillance in these hotspots is challenging because sampling techniques often rely on vector attractants that are either unavailable in remote localities or difficult to transport. We examined whether a novel method for producing CO2 from yeast and sugar produces similar mosquito species captures compared with a standard attractant such as dry ice. Across three different vegetation communities, we found traps baited with dry ice frequently captured more mosquitoes than yeast-baited traps; however, there was little effect on mosquito community composition. Based on our preliminary experiments, we find that this method of producing CO2 is a realistic alternative to dry ice and would be highly suitable for remote field work.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Studies ITESS), James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia. dagmar.meyersteiger@my.jcu.edu.au
authors.forename: D B Meyer
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Steiger
authors.affiliation: School of PublicHealth, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitative Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.affiliation: Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Studies ITESS), James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia.
authors.forename: S G W
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Laurance
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D009033:Culicidae; D017753:Ecosystem; D004772:Entomology / Q000379:methods*; D010675:Pheromones; D014329:Tropical Climate; D015003:Yeasts
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones; C010411:insect attractants; D002245:Carbon Dioxide