Real-time dispersal of malaria vectors in rural Africa monitored with lidar

Samuel Jansson; Elin Malmqvist; Yeromin Mlacha; Rickard Ignell; Fredros Okumu; Gerry Killeen; Carsten Kirkeby; Mikkel Brydegaard

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0247803

Real-time dispersal of malaria vectors in rural Africa monitored with lidar

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 4;16(3):e0247803. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247803. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Samuel Jansson^{1

2}, Elin Malmqvist^{1

2}, Yeromin Mlacha^{3

4

5}, Rickard Ignell⁶, Fredros Okumu^{3

7

8}, Gerry Killeen^{3

9}, Carsten Kirkeby^{10

11}, Mikkel Brydegaard^{1

2

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Lund Laser Centre, Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
² Center for Animal Movement Research, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
³ Environmental Health and Ecological Sciences Department, Ifakara Health Institute, Ifakara, Tanzania.
⁴ Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.
⁵ University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
⁶ Disease Vector Group, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden.
⁷ School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁸ Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
⁹ Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
¹⁰ Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
¹¹ FaunaPhotonics APS, Copenhagen N, Denmark.
¹² Norsk Elektro Optikk AS, Skedsmokorset, Norway.

Abstract

Lack of tools for detailed, real-time observation of mosquito behavior with high spatio-temporal resolution limits progress towards improved malaria vector control. We deployed a high-resolution entomological lidar to monitor a half-kilometer static transect positioned over rice fields outside a Tanzanian village. A quarter of a million in situ insect observations were classified, and several insect taxa were identified based on their modulation signatures. We observed distinct range distributions of male and female mosquitoes in relation to the village periphery, and spatio-temporal behavioral features, such as swarming. Furthermore, we observed that the spatial distributions of males and females change independently of each other during the day, and were able to estimate the daily dispersal of mosquitoes towards and away from the village. The findings of this study demonstrate how lidar-based monitoring could dramatically improve our understanding of malaria vector ecology and control options.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Africa / epidemiology
Animals
Anopheles / physiology*
Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Female
Geographic Information Systems / standards*
Malaria / diagnosis*
Malaria / epidemiology
Malaria / prevention & control
Malaria / transmission
Male
Mosquito Vectors / parasitology*
Rural Population / statistics & numerical data*

Grants and funding

SJ and MB were supported in part by Innovationsfonden, Denmark, by the Swedish Research Council through grants to Lund Laser Centre and the Centre for Animal Movement Research. MB was further supported by Lund University and by a direct grant from the vice chancellor. CK and MB are co-founders and shareholders but not employees of FaunaPhotonics, and per written agreement FaunaPhotonics had no influence on the scientific reporting. MB is an employee of Norsk Elektro Optikk, which is a non-profit company owned by a foundation with the aim to support optics and art in Norway. Norsk Elektro Optikk provided support in the form of salary for MB, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of MB are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.