Weather Factors Influencing the Population Dynamics of Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Po Plain Valley, Italy (1997-2011)

CAA Centro Agricoltura Ambiente > Scientific Papers > Entomologia e Zoologia Sanitarie > Weather Factors Influencing the Population Dynamics of Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Po Plain Valley, Italy (1997-2011)

Carrieri M, P Fariselli, B Maccagnani, P Angelini, M Calzolari, R Bellini

Env. Entomol. 2014.

The impact of weather variables on Culex pipiens L. (Diptera: Culicidae) population dynamics in the Po Valley, Northern Italy, a densely populated region containing the largest industrial and agricultural areas in Italy, were investigated. Mosquitoes’ monitoring was carried out by using CO2-baited traps without light, collecting data weekly from 17:00 to 09:00 during the period May – September, from 1997 to 2011. Daily minimum, average and maximum relative humidity (RH); daily minimum, maximum and average temperature, rainfall and hydroclimatic balance (HCB = Rainfall-Potential Evapotranspiration) were obtained from three weather stations within the surveillance zone. The average population dynamic trend over the 15-year period showed a bell-shaped curve with a major peak in June and a secondary peak at the end of August in the rural areas, while bimodality was not evidenced in the urban areas. The correlation analyses showed that the mosquito seasonal population and the population in the period of maximum WNV circulation (August-September) was mostly affected by the RH registered from March to July, particularly in May, and, to a lower extent, also by HCB registered in April-July, and by the rainfall occurred in June-July. In addition, the rate of increase of the population during the spring months influenced the development of the mosquito population of the following months.

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