Larval ecology of African malaria vectors

本研究的重点是非洲疟疾媒介的幼虫生态学，这是疟疾研究的一个被忽视的领域。由于冈比亚按蚊复合体物种分子鉴定技术的进步，使用微卫星标记研究蚊子种群遗传学，将地理信息系统和遥感应用于医学昆虫学和疟疾流行病学，预测昆虫种群动态的建模技术的进步，以及现代昆虫控制技术，现在有可能解决有关非洲按蚊幼虫阶段生物学的重要基本问题。在肯尼亚的实地研究，以确定机制，环境因素调节幼虫阶段的蚊子的动态将提供新的见解，解释空间和时间动态的成年蚊子种群和恶性疟原虫传播给人类的模式。有三个具体目标：1）通过对按蚊幼虫栖息地进行地区一级的实地研究，确定调节疟疾病媒和恶性疟原虫传播的空间和时间分布的关键环境决定因素。2)通过纵向村级实地研究，确定气候对按蚊幼虫种群动态、成蚊产生、成蚊行为以及恶性疟原虫疟疾向人类的传播，以及3）开发控制按蚊幼虫种群的新方法，有当地社区参与的大规模试点控制项目是组织者和参与者。这项研究的成果将包括更好的蚊子控制方法，可以在社区一级应用于抗击疟疾。

This research focuses on the larval ecology of African malaria vectors, a ne3glected area of malaria research. As a result of technological advances in the molecular identification of species in the Anopheles gambiae complex, the use microsatellite markers to study mosquito population genetics, the use of Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing as applied to medical entomology and malaria epidemiology, advances in modeling to predict insect population dynamics, and modern insect control technologies, it is now possible to address important basic questions about larval-stage biology of anopheline mosquitos in Africa. Field studies in Kenya to identify the mechanisms by which environmental factors regulate the dynamics of larval-stage mosquitoes will provide new insights for explaining the spatial and temporal dynamics of adult mosquito populations and patterns of Plasmodium falciparum transmission to humans. There are 3 specific aims: 1) to determine through district-level field studies of Anopheles larval habitats the key environmental determinants regulating the spatial and temporal distributions of malaria vectors and Plasmodium falciparum transmission. 2) to determine through longitudinal village-level field studies the impact of climate on relationships between the dynamics of larval populations of Anopheles, the production of adult mosquitoes, the behavior of adult mosquitoes, and the transmission of plasmodium falciparum malaria to humans and 3) to develop new approaches for the control of larval populations of Anopheles mosquitoes by conducting small-scale pilot control projects that involve local communities are organizers and participants. The outcome of this research will include better methods for mosquito control that can be applied at the community level to fight malaria.