Effects of landscape anthropization on sylvatic mosquito assemblages in a rainforest in Chiapas, Mexico

Global change and ecosystem transformation at regional and local scales during recent decades have facilitated the exponential increase of outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases. Mosquito-borne pathogens are responsible for millions of infections, mainly in tropical regions where marginalized human populations are located, and where in recent years processes of landscape anthropization have occurred. Anthropogenic landscape transformation is known to change species assemblages. However, the magnitude of these effects is largely unknown, and the effects of anthropogenic landscape transformation on sylvatic mosquito assemblages are poorly known in Mexican ecosystems. We evaluate how mosquito abundance, richness, and diversity change along a gradient of three human-modified landscapes-one highly anthropized, one moderately anthropized, and one slightly anthropized-within a tropical forest matrix in a Protected Natural Area in Chiapas. A total of 4 538 mosquitoes belonging to 23 species were captured and identified at the three sites. We found differences in the structure and abundance of the three mosquito assemblages. The species assemblage of the highly anthropized site was significantly different from the other sites, and the relative abundance of the assemblages increased with landscape anthropization. Our results suggest that landscape anthropization alters the composition and structure of mosquito assemblages, modifying the abundance and species richness of mosquitoes associated with sylvatic ecosystems. This could support the hypothesis of intermediate disturbance that suggests the diversity is maximized when late and early successional species coexist in these ecosystems. This information is essential to understand the ecology of potential sylvatic vectors and the environmental factors that are involved in the emergence and re-emergence of mosquito-borne diseases.