Healthy wetlands, healthy people: Mosquito borne disease

Abstract

We evaluate the links between wetland breeding mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), vector-borne disease transmission, human incidence of disease and the underlying mechanisms regulating these relationships. Mosquitoes are a diverse taxonomic group that plays a number of important roles in healthy wetlands. Mosquitoes are also the most important insect vectors of pathogens to wildlife, livestock and humans, transmitting many important diseases such as malaria, West Nile virus, and Ross River virus. Mosquitoes interact with a variety of invertebrates and vertebrates in complex communities within wetlands. These interactions regulate populations of key vector species. Healthy wetlands are characterized by intact wetland communities with increased biodiversity and trophic structure that tend to minimize dominance and production of vector mosquito species, reservoir host species and minimize risk of disease to surrounding human and animal populations. In a public health paradigm, these natural ecological interactions can be considered a direct ecosystem service-natural mitigation of vector-borne disease risk. Anthropogenic disruptions, including land-use, habitat alterations, biodiversity loss and climatic changes can compromise natural ecological processes that regulate mosquito populations and have severe human health and economic implications. Maintenance of healthy wetlands is likely to be beneficial for human and ecosystem health, and more cost effective and sustainable than chemical control of vector species.