Effectiveness of mosquito traps in measuring species abundance and composition

Mosquito species abundance and composition estimates provided by trapping devices are commonly used to guide control efforts, but knowledge of trap biases is necessary for accurately interpreting results. We tested the hypothesis that commercially available traps (Mosquito Magnet-Pro, the Mosquito Magnet-X) would be significant improvements over the CDC Miniature Light Trap with respect to abundance, species diversity, and measures of recruitment in a wooded area of the Bronx Zoo in New York City, NY. The Mosquito Magnet-Pro collected significantly more mosquitoes (n = 1,117; mean per night, 124 +/- 28.3) than the CDC Miniature Light Trap (n = 167; mean per night, 19 +/- 5.5). The Simpson's diversity index was greatest for the Mosquito Magnet-Pro. A CDC light trap from a simultaneous surveillance project was located 15 m away and used as a control trap to test for significant differences in mosquito counts on nights with or without the experimental traps. There were no significant differences between nights, indicating the test traps did not recruit beyond 15 m. The traps differed significantly in abundance, but they had similarly limited sampling areas. Measured differences in abundance were independent of differences in diversity. This study highlights how differences between traps might affect species abundance and composition estimates.