Habitat segregation patterns of container breeding mosquitos: The role of urban heat islands, vegetation cover, and income disparity in cities of Louisiana, USA

This research evaluates how spatial and temporal patterns drive the assemblages of competing mosquito vector species in cities of Louisiana, USA. We evaluated environmental indicators such as climate variability, vegetation cover, heat, as well as indicators of income disparities and urban blight. We found that in New Orleans, the yellow fever mosquito, Ae. aegypti, was well predicted by urban heat islands (UHI), and that low-income areas were more exposed to UHI across the sampled neighborhoods. In Baton Rouge, we found that low income neighborhoods had higher abundance of larvae positive mosquito habitat, which correlated to indicators of urban blight. We also found a higher overall abundance of mosquitos in the low income neighborhood, and a higher proportion of the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus. Our study highlights the importance of considering socioeconomic aspects as indirectly shaping spatial segregation dynamics of urban mosquito species. The effect of excessive heat on the proliferation of the highly competent mosquito vector, Ae. aegypti, as well as the role that urban blight plays in providing habitat for mosquito larvae, represent pathways of unequal disease risk for low-income neighborhoods of Louisiana that should be explored further.