The role of temperature in shaping Culex acharistus mosquitoes life history traits in its southern limit of distribution (Patagonia-Argentina).

There is substantial evidence showing that temperature have a great impact on insects behavior, phenology and life histories. Because of mosquito global importance as disease vectors, in temperate regions where climatic conditions could be only borderline suitable for mosquito development, there is a growing interest in understanding the effect of temperature shifts on vital statistics to more accurately define how such changes could impact distribution and abundance patterns, as well as disease transmission cycles. We determined the role of ambient temperature under fluctuating conditions in shaping Culex acharistus (Diptera: Culicidae) life history traits, and estimated its development threshold and physiological time, in its southern limit of distribution in the Argentine Patagonia region. Four horizontal life tables were conducted under natural fluctuating temperature range in Esquel city (42°S - 71°W; 563 m a.s.l.), during spring-summer (17°C), summer (15.4°C), summer-autumn (12.7°C) and autumn-winter (5.6°C) seasons. Larvae, pupae and adult traits were recorded. The mean duration of the experiments varied between 28 to ≅100 days for spring-summer and autumn-winter seasons. Only during the cold season experiment pupae experienced the most severe temperatures and freeze-thaw cycles, and failed to reach adult stage. We found that larva and pupa development time, adult emergence time and longevity significantly increased with decreasing temperatures, while larval survival was greatest at an intermediate temperature and decreased toward low and high values. Also, protandry was observed and males emerge 2 days before females across seasons. Temperature development threshold and physiological time estimated for larva + pupa were 5.98°C and 211.24°C-days. Our study contributes to a growing body of knowledge by examining the effect of seasonal changes in temperature on mosquito life history traits. Results obtained here can be applied as useful parameters in the development of population dynamic models, improving current mosquito control strategies in cold-temperate regions.

Macrophyte regional patterns, metrics assessment and ecological integrity of isolated ponds at Austral Patagonia (Argentina).

Anthropogenic and natural changes are threatening pond ecological integrity in Patagonia and tools for bioassessment are required. Macrophytes are good candidates to determine the conservation status of ponds; nevertheless, metric selection procedures should be founded on an adequate knowledge of plant ecological responses. We assessed the main environmental constraints driving variation in macrophyte assemblages, and trophic status at 29 ponds located at the continental and insular Patagonia region. We screened 20 potential macrophyte metrics as indicators of pond condition that included origin (native, endemic, exotic), lifeforms (annual/biannual, perennial), functional groups (submersed, emergent, floating-leaved, landforms), and community attributes. A set of 106 taxa were recorded, and richness per site (10 species) was unexpectedly high for a cold temperate area, reinforcing the value of isolated ponds as habitat for macrophytes in the Patagonian landscape. Natives dominated most assemblages; exotics were present at 24 ponds, contributing with high cover (>45%) at 15% of them. Macrophyte assemblages were driven by natural factors over anthropogenic ones, with temperature, rainfall, pH, conductivity and nutrients explaining most variation in patterns. However, pond eutrophication symptoms (high phosphorous concentration and chlorophyll a) were associated with extensive cattle grazing (manure and trampling) and urbanization (runoff). Generalized linear models captured natural variables (temperature, alkalinity) as most powerful explaining richness measures. Models also indicated that both richness of emergent and endemics were negatively affected by total phosphorous increases. Land cover factors: grasses/herbaceous, mallín and trees (%) in 100 m buffer around ponds appeared as additional ecological drivers of macrophyte patterns, particularly of submersed (>50%) and native richness (36%). Natural and anthropogenic gradients were overlapped, making it difficult to generalize our conclusions. Further studies are needed to test the performance of the macrophyte metrics selected here, which are a vital tool for the conservation of the most austral ponds in South America.

Modelling the distribution of the vector Aedes aegypti in a central Argentine city.

Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) is an urban mosquito involved in the transmission of numerous viruses, including dengue, chikungunya and Zika. In Argentina, Ae. aegypti is the main vector of dengue virus and has been involved in several outbreaks in regions ranging from northern to central Argentina since 2009. In order to evaluate areas of potential vector-borne disease transmission in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, the present study aimed to identify the environmental, socioeconomic and demographic factors driving the distribution of Ae. aegypti larvae through spatial analysis in the form of species distribution models (SDMs). These models elucidate relationships between known occurrences of a species and environmental data in order to identify areas with suitable habitats for that species and the consequent risk for disease transmission. The maximum entropy species distribution model was able to fit the training data well, with an average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of > 0.8, and produced models with fair extrapolation capacity (average test AUC: > 0.75). Human population density, distance to vegetation and water channels were the main variables predictive of the vector suitability of an area. The results of this work will be used to target surveillance and prevention measures, as well as in mosquito management.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of dengue 2009 outbreak in Córdoba City, Argentina.

During 2009 the biggest dengue epidemic to date occurred in Argentina, affecting almost half the country. We studied the spatio-temporal dynamics of the outbreak in the second most populated city of the country, Córdoba city. Confirmed cases and the results of an Aedes aegypti monitoring during the outbreak were geolocated. The imported cases began in January, and the autochthonous in March. Thirty-three percent of the 130 confirmed cases were imported, and occurred mainly at the center of the city. The autochthonous cases were more frequent in the outskirts, specially in the NE and SE. Aedes aegypti infestation showed no difference between neighborhoods with or without autochthonous cases, neither between neighborhoods with autochthonous vs. imported cases. The neighborhoods with imported cases presented higher population densities. The majority of autochthonous cases occurred at ages between 25 and 44 years old. Cases formed a spatio-temporal cluster of up to 20 days and 12km. According to a mathematical model that estimates the required number of days needed for transmission according to daily temperature, the number of cases begun to fall when more than 15.5 days were needed. This may be a coarse estimation of mean mosquito survival in the area, provided that the study area is close to the global distribution limit of the vector, and that cases prevalence was very low.