title: Species diversity of sand flies and ecological niche model of Phlebotomus papatasi in central Iran.
abstract: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is the most important vector-borne disease in Iran. Qom Province is a very important area in the case of CL transmission, because of high traffic population from other parts of the country, or even other countries, as well as existence of confirmed foci of the disease. The aim of this study was to determine the ecology of sand flies in two different climates of this province and model the distribution of the main vector. Sand flies were collected monthly during April 2013-April 2014, at 22 urban/rural collection sites. Site selection was constrained by the geographical distribution of CL cases in recent years. Shannon-Weiner and Evenness indices were used to compare diversity in two studied climates. ArcGIS and MaxEnt were used to map and predict the appropriate ecological niches for sand flies. Totally, 5389 sand flies were collected and 12 species were identified. The most abundant species were Sergentomyia sintoni, P. papatasi, P. sergenti s.l. and Phlebotomus alexandri. Two peaks of activity were found in May and August in lowlands; while in mountainous areas they were observed in June and September. Species diversity in mountainous areas was found to be higher than in lowlands. The environmental variable with the highest gain in MaxEnt model was the monthly mean of (max temp-min temp). A big part of the lowland areas provides good ecological niches for P. papatasi and therefore higher transmission potential. These findings can be used in stratification of potential for CL transmission in Qom province.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Entomology & Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Deputy for Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abedi-Astaneh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Entomology & Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Ahmad
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Akhavan
authors.affiliation: Zoonotic Department, Center of Disease Control (CDC), Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammd Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Shirzadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Entomology & Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Yavar
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rassi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Entomology & Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: yaghoobi.reza@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Yaghoobi-Ershadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Entomology & Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: aahanafibojd@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Ahmad Ali
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hanafi-Bojd
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Entomology & Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Kamran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akbarzadeh
authors.affiliation: Deputy for Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nafar-Shalamzari
authors.affiliation: Deputy for Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors.forename: Sohbat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parsi
authors.affiliation: Deputy for Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.affiliation: Deputy for Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors.forename: Hedayatollah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Raufi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002980:Climate; D004463:Ecology; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000145:classification*; D007492:Iran; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000635:transmission; D010691:Phlebotomus / Q000145:classification*; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Cutaneous leishmaniasis; Diversity; Ecology; Iran; Phlebotomus papatasi; Qom