title: Dispersal of adult culex mosquitoes in an urban west nile virus hotspot: a mark-capture study incorporating stable isotope enrichment of natural larval habitats.
abstract: Dispersal is a critical life history behavior for mosquitoes and is important for the spread of mosquito-borne disease. We implemented the first stable isotope mark-capture study to measure mosquito dispersal, focusing on Culex pipiens in southwest suburban Chicago, Illinois, a hotspot of West Nile virus (WNV) transmission. We enriched nine catch basins in 2010 and 2011 with 15N-potassium nitrate and detected dispersal of enriched adult females emerging from these catch basins using CDC light and gravid traps to distances as far as 3 km. We detected 12 isotopically enriched pools of mosquitoes out of 2,442 tested during the two years and calculated a mean dispersal distance of 1.15 km and maximum flight range of 2.48 km. According to a logistic distribution function, 90% of the female Culex mosquitoes stayed within 3 km of their larval habitat, which corresponds with the distance-limited genetic variation of WNV observed in this study region. This study provides new insights on the dispersal of the most important vector of WNV in the eastern United States and demonstrates the utility of stable isotope enrichment for studying the biology of mosquitoes in other disease systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America; Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gabriel L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Hamer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Tavis K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America.
authors.forename: Danielle J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Donovan
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Brawn
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Bethany L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Krebs
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Allison M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Marilyn O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Uriel D
authors.initials: UD
authors.lastname: Kitron
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors.forename: Tony L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America.
authors.forename: Edward D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002641:Chicago; D003465:Culex / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004772:Entomology / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D007553:Isotope Labeling; D008297:Male