Wetland Mosquito Survey Handbook Assessing Suitability of British Wetlands for Mosquitoes
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Wetland Mosquito Survey Handbook Assessing suitability of British wetlands for mosquitoes Frances M. Hawkes, Jolyon M. Medlock, Alexander G.C. Vaux, Robert A. Cheke, Gabriella Gibson ENTER WETLAND MOSQUITO SURVEY HANDBOOK Assessing Suitability of British Wetlands for Mosquitoes WETLAND MOSQUITO SURVEY HANDBOOK Wetland Mosquito Survey Handbook Authors: Frances M. Hawkes1, Jolyon M. Medlock2, Alexander G.C. Vaux2, Robert A. Cheke1, Gabriella Gibson1 1Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich at Medway, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, United Kingdom 2Medical Entomology group, Public Health England, Manor Farm Road, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 0JG, United Kingdom Contributing authors: Timothy G. Acott1; Peter A. Coates2; Adriana Ford3 1School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Greenwich, 10 Stockwell Street, London SE10 9BD, United Kingdom 2Centre for Environmental Humanities, University of Bristol, Beacon House, Queens Road, Bristol BS8 1QU, United Kingdom 3Imperial College London, Department of Life Sciences, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom Suggested citation: Hawkes, F.M., Medlock, J.M., Vaux, A.G.C., Cheke, R.A, and Gibson, G (2020) Wetland Mosquito Survey Handbook: Assessing suitability of British wetlands for mosquitoes. Natural Resources Institute, Chatham, UK. All photos by the authors, unless otherwise stated. Mosquito photos: Anders Lindström, Statens veterinärmedicinska anstalt (Swedish National Veterinary Institute, SVA), Ulls väg 2B, Uppsala, Sweden. Production coordinator: Gillian Summers, NRI Art direction: Simon Pointer & Geoff Denney, GDA Creative Design. www.gdcreative.co.uk Acknowledgements: We are very grateful to reserve managers and staff of the wetland areas in which we undertook the field work used to support this publication for providing significant support and access: Bedford Borough Council, Clinton Devon Estates, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Milton Keynes Parks Trust, Natural England, North Lincolnshire Council, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Somerset Wildlife Trust, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, and Wyre Forest District Council. In particular we thank Chris Hainsworth for providing feedback on a draft of this publication. This book was developed as part of the WetlandLIFE project (www.wetlandlife.org), which was supported by funding from the Valuing Nature Programme (www.valuing-nature.net), which is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This work was supported by NERC grant reference number NE/N013379/1. We thank the rest of the WetlandLIFE project team for feedback and discussion, and the Valuing Nature Programme Coordination team for their support. ISBN13: 9780900822100 ISBN13: 978-0-900822-10-0 www.wetlandlife.org The views and designations expressed in this publication are those of its authors and do not represent officially adopted views of the University of Greenwich, Public Health England, the University of Bristol, Imperial College London, or the Valuing Nature Programme Coordination Team. Mention of commercial products or services does not constitute an endorsement. ASSESSING SUITABILITY OF BRITISH WETLANDS FOR MOSQUITOES CONTENTS Foreword v Preface vii 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Introducing mosquitoes 1 1.2 What are wetlands? 2 1.3 What is the link between wetlands and mosquitoes? 2 1.4 The value of wetlands in Britain today: examples from England 4 1.5 Wetland expansion and mosquito habitat 6 Further reading 7 2. Mosquitoes and their place in British wetlands 8 Further reading 14 3. Public health issues associated with mosquitoes 15 3.1 Nuisance biting 15 3.2 Responding to a mosquito nuisance 17 3.3 Disease 19 3.3.1 Human Malaria 20 3.3.2 Arboviruses 21 3.4 Non-native species 22 3.5 Public perceptions of mosquitoes 23 Further reading 24 4. Historical perspectives on Britain’s ‘nuisance’ mosquitoes between the Wars 25 Further reading 29 5. Introduction to mosquito biology and ecology 30 5.1 Taxonomy 30 5.2 Recorded mosquitoes of Britain 30 5.3 Life cycle 31 5.4 Oviposition habitats 35 5.5 Functional groups 35 Further reading 37 6. Species profiles 38 Aedes cantans and Aedes annulipes 39 Aedes caspius 42 Aedes cinereus and Aedes geminus 45 Aedes detritus 48 Aedes punctor and Aedes rusticus 51 Aedes vexans 54 Anopheles claviger 57 WETLAND MOSQUITO SURVEY HANDBOOK Anopheles maculipennis sensu lato 61 Coquillettidia richiardii 64 Culex modestus 67 Culex pipiens sensu lato and Culex torrentium 70 Culiseta annulata 74 Culiseta morsitans 77 Further reading 80 7. Mosquito species associations with wetland habitat types 81 7.1 Introduction to the species prediction tool 81 7.2 Wetland mosquito prediction tool 84 7.3 Mosquito habitats 90 7.3.1 Brackish Habitats 90 7.3.2 Freshwater Habitats 91 8. Mosquito surveying and control 98 8.1 Adult sampling 99 8.2 Larval sampling 102 8.3 Sample storage 104 8.4 Species identification and reporting 104 8.5 Mosquito control 105 Further reading 109 Appendices 110 Appendix I – Glossary 111 Appendix II – Abbreviations 113 Appendix III - Summary of the impact of wetland creation and management on British mosquito species, with summary of potential for mitigation and possible nuisance/vector concern. 114 Further reading 118 Appendix IV – Generalised adult mosquito anatomy 119 Appendix V – Simple key to adult female Culicidae 122 Further reading 123 Appendix VI – Simple key to 4th instar larvae of Culicidae 124 Further reading 125 Appendix VII – Identification of some British mosquitoes according to tarsal patterns 126 Appendix VIII – Comparison of aquatic larvae and adult wing patterns of mosquitoes with morphologically similar fly taxa 127 Appendix IX – Data sheets for mosquito reporting 129 Appendix X – Useful contacts 130 For mosquito reporting 130 For pest control 130 Appendix XI – NBN Data Providers 130 ASSESSING SUITABILITY OF BRITISH WETLANDS FOR MOSQUITOES FOREWORD It is an exciting time for people who care about biodiversity in the United Kingdom. There is an increasing realisation about what we have lost over the last 50 years and a growing understanding of what biodiversity and natural habitats contribute to the nation’s economy and its people’s well-being. There is widespread enthusiasm about habitat restoration and recreation, as well as new ideas about how “nature-based solutions” may help us to confront some of the major challenges of the 21st century such as climate change, often more cheaply than human-based alternatives. I share this excitement and sense of optimism, but strongly believe that to improve our environment to benefit both us and biodiversity we need to squarely and fairly address the constituencies that may in the short term lose out from these changes. For example, as the UK replaces the agricultural subsidies in the Common Agricultural Policy with payments based on “public money for public good” it is critical for environmentalists to engage with the farming industry to address their concerns, and ideally forge a consensus of how change is best introduced. The case of wetlands is another example where the potential for negative effects has to be taken into account and this book considers the possibility of the increased nuisance from more biting mosquitoes. This is an important topic because wetlands are a relatively easy habitat type to recreate and there have been some outstanding successful projects over the last couple of decades. These range from small urban projects, such as the London Wetland Centre in Barnes that provides an introduction to wetland biology to a massive population in its immediate vicinity, to the Somerset Levels, which now consist of a network of reserves with wonderfully enhanced biodiversity and a richness of breeding birds I could only of dreamed about as a teenager in the 1970s when I taught myself birdwatching in an area that was then largely devoted to active peat extraction. We are hugely fortunate that in the UK the nuisance from mosquito biting is much less than further north in Europe or at similar latitudes to ours in much of North America, and that the risk of disease transmission is currently negligible. Nevertheless, we risk undermining the positive gains from wetland restoration and creation if we do not take seriously, and address, the legitimate concerns of local people who may be negatively impacted by changes in mosquito populations. The authors of this book should be congratulated on providing an immensely important compendium of knowledge to assess and address exactly this issue. Written in a clear and accessible style, it explains exactly what might be the consequences of new wetland sites to population levels of biting mosquitoes, and provides a novel prediction tool that will be very valuable to habitat managers and public health workers. It provides vignettes of the most important mosquito species and their ecologies, information on sampling and control, and much to be welcomed simplified identification keys to adults and larvae (that I hope will give more people the courage to move onto the more technical literature). It also addresses the very significant issue of engaging with people experiencing issues with mosquitoes who may not be biologists (though some will be very expert) but bring critically important novel perspectives to the discussion. Speaking down to such audiences is highly counter-productive (as I know from experience having foolishly told my wife she would be less bothered by the biting mosquitoes in the garden – Aedes cantans – if she knew their scientific name!). Asking people to love mosquitoes is a hard sell, but I hope that non-entomologists coming to this topic for the first time will at least be fascinated by the rich biology of these insects. How extraordinary is it that one of the commonest British mosquitoes (Culex pipiens) has two types – the common one which is the mosquito most frequently seen in houses overwintering that almost exclusively feeds on birds, and one found in the London underground that is highly partial to humans.