Effects of season on vector mosquito species abundances: Implications for understanding temporal patterns in mosquito community data

Most mosquito-borne pathogens can be transmitted by multiple species that may vary across space and time. Effectively identifying pathogen transmission risk in an area, therefore, requires examining mosquito community-level spatiotemporal changes. We investigated the temporal structure of West Nile virus competent vector mosquitoes within sampled mosquito communities in Manatee County, FL, utilizing generalized linear mixed-effects models. We used these models to quantify effects of early and late season on proportion of vector species abundances and community composition across 60 sites during 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020. We hypothesized that the proportion of vector mosquitoes would increase with urban landcover in the early season but decrease in the late season, and that vector species abundances and community composition would differ between seasons. Mean proportion of vector mosquitoes and mean number of mosquitoes per trap night for each species served as response variables in two model sets; season and year were included as fixed-effect predictor variables in each model set, and (species nested within) sampling location served as a site-level random effect. Preliminary results indicated intra- and interannual differences in community composition. The proportion of vector species and mean number of mosquitoes per trap night was greatest during the early season in 2017, 2019, and 2020. However, urban landcover did not have a strong effect on vector species proportions in either season. Identifying and understanding patterns in composition and distribution of mosquito communities can provide insights relevant to successfully implementing an One Health approach to preventing and managing mosquito-borne disease.