Avian malaria is a devastating disease that has decimated numerous bird species. This study sought to identify the vectors of avian malaria at four central Virginia Prothonotary warbler breeding sites. Twenty one thousand mosquitoes were collected and Culex salinarius, Cx. erraticus, and Cx. pipiens/restuans were found to be the dominant species at these sites. Geographic factors, such as crop land and forest type, were determined to be potential indicators for species abundance variation between sites. Of the mosquitoes collected, ninety one (0.4%) were identified as blood fed. The blood fed mosquitoes were found to have fed on avian, mammalian, amphibian, and reptilian hosts and a 12.1% Plasmodium infection rate. Of the non-blood fed mosquito pools tested, Deep Bottom had the highest rate of infection (10.5%). Of the species tested, Cx. salinarius, Cx. erraticus, and Cx. pipiens/restuans were determined to be the most probable vectors of avian malaria the four sites.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:vcu.edu/oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-1171 |
| Date | 09 December 2010 |
| Creators | Wallace, Catherine |
| Publisher | VCU Scholars Compass |
| Source Sets | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | © The Author |
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