Rubber Plantations as a Mosquito Box Amplification in South and Southeast Asia

Abstract

Using simple species richness index and geometric morphospaces, we compared the mosquito fauna in rubber plantations from Thailand and India and contrasted it with a fragmented forest fauna from northern Thailand. In rubber plantations, Aedes albopictus was the most frequent mosquito, together with a high proportion of filarial and malaria vectors. Because of the many breeding sites represented by the latex cups, heavy downpour during the rainy season probably transforms the rubber plantation ecosystems into mosquito-borne disease-transmitting systems. In the forest, a different composition of the mosquito fauna was observed, but A. albopictus was also the most frequent mosquito. Its presence and its different metric properties in the forest could suggest the possible existence of native populations in Thailand, in accordance with the hypothesis of its Southeast Asian origin.