| Interdisciplinary studies were conducted to describe the bionomics of the malaria vector Anopheles darlingi Root in Belize, Central America. Studies investigated the following: nightly adult biting patterns; seasonal population densities; flight behavior patterns; the role of overhanging bamboo in larval habitat preference; the association between deforestation and bamboo growth; and the associations between land cover and river characteristics to the distribution of positive larval habitats.; Results from all-night biting studies show An. darlingi to exhibit a bimodal peak activity pattern with biting continuing throughout the night at similar rates both indoors and outside of an experimental but (I:O = 1.00:0.96). Population studies show An. darlingi to have its densest populations during seasonal transitional months including January and May/July. Results from flight behavior studies of An. darlingi females, using a newly designed portable hut, show the highest recapture rate was made at the 0 M distance (28.9%) from a fixed release point, then declined from 11.6% at 400 M to 5.8% at 800 M.; Habitat preference studies indicate that overhanging bamboo is not an An. darlingi breeding site selection criterion. Experimental plots in which bamboo was hung above detritus consistently showed significantly fewer An. darlingi larvae than plots with detritus alone and similar numbers as in open water control plots. Studies combining field mapping with remote sensing along “cleared” (i.e., deforested) and “undisturbed” (i.e., forested) transects within two river systems showed no associations between land cover adjacent to the rivers and bamboo growth. Results were consistent using both SPOT (20-m resolution) and IKONOS (4-m resolution) satellite imagery.; In addition, overhanging bamboo was not the primary contributor to the formation of potential An. darlingi larval habitats formed within a 48-km transect of the Sibun River. Instead, components of trees (i.e., fallen trunks, etc.) were found to be the predominant landscape feature associated with habitat creation. Using IKONOS imagery, no associations were found between the locations of positive habitats and land cover or river characteristics. However, the average distance from detritus mats containing An. darlingi larvae to houses located within a 1,000-m search radius was significantly less than the distance from negative habitats. |
