The effects of climatic patterns and agricultural practices on the population dynamics of Culex tritaeniorhynchus in Asia.

ABSTRACT

Annual population curves for C. tritaeniorhynchus are presented for representative localities distributed from Pakistan, east through Southeast Asia and the Philippines and north to Japan and Korea. In the dry temperature (Pakistan) and colder maritime climates (Japan and Korea). C. tritaeniorhynchus populations apparently overwintered as hibernating adults, while in the warmer maritime climates (Okinawa and Taiwan), gonotrophic activity and larval development continued throughout the winter months. In these climatic types, the population curves closely paralleled the annual temperature curves. In the tropical climates, however, temporal population patterns were closely related to available moisture either in the form of annual precipitation and/or rice irrigation. The extremely variable environmental conditions tolerated C. tritaeniorhynchus throughout its distribution attests to the physiological and ecological plasticity of this species and suggests that further ecological and genetic studies may reveal marked clinical variances among selected biological parameters.