Community and population patterns of mosquito larvae in tire habitats across spatial and temporal axes in Mississippi, USA

For container mosquitoes, water filled tire casings can provide ideal habitats to rear larvae.  Populations and species richness of mosquitoes within tires can depend largely on the spatial location and local environmental conditions associated with tires.  We examined the relationship between populations of mosquitoes and environmental factors in tires, and how these relationships varied across spatial and temporal scales.  Tires were sampled at 6 sites spanning 4.5° of latitude in Mississippi, U.S.A., several times during the summer of 2012.  For each tire we quantified local environmental factors (e.g. water volume, canopy cover, tire diameter) known to affect presence and abundance of mosquitoes.  Early summer tires contained, three dominant species: Aedes albopictus (67.2%), Culex. quinquefasciatus (21.4%), and Ae. triseriatus (4.1%).  Although we found no significant trends in mosquito populations when compared to environmental variables across all sites, appraisals of the relationships between groups of species and particular environmental parameters were often significant. Overall, southern sites had significantly more species than the north.  In the north, Ae. albopictus was the most common species (88.9%), followed by the most recently introduced invasive Ae. japonicas (2.7%), as well as  Ae. triseriatus (2.3%).  In the south, Ae. albopictus was the most commonly encountered species (56.9%), followed by Cx. quinquefasciatus (31.4%), and Ae. triseriatus (4.1%).  Throughout the state, Cx. coronator, a species experiencing range expansion, occurred in tires.  This is the first study of tire-inhabiting mosquitoes from across Mississippi and will aid in further understanding the relationship between mosquitoes and the environmental parameters that explain them.