Rubber Plantations as Mosquito Breeding Ecosystems: A Global Review

Abstract

Rubber plantations provide a unique type of mosquito breeding habitat in the form of rainwater-filled latex cups. Remains of highly nutritious latex in the cups promote bacterial growth and hence support the growth of mosquito larvae. Globally, there are approximately 12.8 million hectares of land under rubber cultivation. Each hectare of plantation provides 500 latex cups. Since 1956, the breeding of mosquitoes in latex cups has been reported in four Asian countries viz., Malaysia, India, Laos PDR, and Indonesia. The dominant species in these habitats was Aedes albopictus, the vector of Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika. In Africa, two countries viz., Liberia and Ivory Coast reported mosquito breeding in latex cups. The mosquitoes include the vector species Ae. aegypti, Ae. africanus, Anopheles gambiae, Culex quenquefasciatus, and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus. However, there have not been similar studies in many of the major rubber-cultivating countries.