Habitat associations of mosquito and copepod species

Copepods and mosquitoes were collected and identified over a 12-month period from three woodland ponds, discarded tires and a salt marsh. The species distribution of both mosquitoes and copepods varied among habitats and seasonally. Acanthocyclops vernalis was the predominant copepod in all of the habitats except the discarded tires, where Thermocyclops dybowskii was the predominant species. Amblyospora sp.-infected mosquitoes and copepods were found on several occasions in one of the woodland ponds and in the salt marsh. The results indicate that several copepod species have the potential to influence larval mosquito populations either directly as predators or indirectly as intermediate hosts of parasites.