Immature development of the malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae S.L. (Diptera: Culicidae), in relation to soil-substrate organic matter content of larval habitats in northcentral Nigeria

Abstract

This study elucidated the relationships between larval habitat soil-substrate Organic Matter Content (OMC) and immature development of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae s.l. Day-old larvae of the mosquito were reared in media substrated with typical soil samples (i.e., sandy, silt, clayey and loamy soils), from established anopheline breeding sites, to provide a gradient in soil-substrate OMC. The OMC of the soil samples were determined by ignition to a constant weight; while the developing A. gambiae mosquitoes in the culture media were monitored daily for survivorship and duration of immature life stages. The results indicated significant (p<0.05) variation in OMC of the soil types (range = 11.21±2.91% in sandy to 29.83±2.96% in loamy soils). However, though Daily Larval Survival Rates (DLSR) were relatively high (range = 95.21±2.96 to 96.70±1.44%), as influenced by OMC, such values were not significantly different (p>0.05) among the soil-substrate types; results contrary to those of Larval Success Rates (LSR) (i.e., range = 52.07±13.64 to 74.39±6.60%). Daily Pupation Rate (DPR) of the mosquitoes varied significantly among the soil-substrates, ranging from 13.87±2.39% in clayey to 25.00±4.30% in loamy substrates. Soil-substrate OMC significantly extended the Duration of Immature Life Stages (DILS) of the mosquitoes only in the sandy soil type (range = 12.76±1.74 to 15.81±2.40 days). On the whole, DILS was inversely related to soil-substrate OMC. Cross-correlational analysis revealed significant positive association among most of the variables tested. The findings of this study should serve as baseline information for the development of effective environmental management strategies for malaria larval-vector control. © 2013 Asian Network for Scientific Information.