Association of avian biodiversity and West Nile Virus circulation in Culex mosquitoes in Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Yiran Wang, Mattia Calzolari, Gianpiero Calvi, Victoria M. Cox, Paola Angelini, Michele Dottori, William Wint, Sally Jahn, Giovanni Marini, Ilaria Dorigatti, Ran Wang, Ran Wang, Ran Wang, Ran Wang
TL;DR
This study finds that higher bird diversity in Italy is linked to lower West Nile Virus activity in mosquitoes, suggesting conservation could help control outbreaks.
Contribution
The study provides the first empirical evidence supporting the dilution effect hypothesis for West Nile Virus in Europe.
Findings
Higher avian biodiversity is associated with reduced West Nile Virus activity in Culex mosquitoes.
Non-passerine bird species richness is linked to lower transmission risk, while passerine species richness is associated with higher risk.
Findings support the dilution effect hypothesis in a European WNV hotspot.
Abstract
West Nile Virus (WNV) is a zoonotic arbovirus maintained in a transmission cycle between Culex mosquitoes and birds, occasionally spilling over into humans. The impact of avian biodiversity on WNV circulation remains debated, with studies reporting both negative and positive correlations (dilution and amplification effects respectively) across different settings. In Europe, this relationship remains largely unexplored, particularly in regions with high WNV transmission, such as Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy. We explored the association between avian biodiversity and WNV circulation in Culex mosquitoes in Emilia-Romagna using 11 years (2013–2023) of entomological surveillance data paired with two avian data sources. We calculated avian biodiversity indices (Shannon’s, Simpson’s, and Chao2) from observation records from the Farmland Bird Index project and applied linear regression…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMosquito-borne diseases and control · Vector-Borne Animal Diseases · Zoonotic diseases and public health