TY - JOUR

T1 - Lidar reveals activity anomaly of malaria vectors during pan-African eclipse

AU - Brydegaard, Mikkel

AU - Jansson, Samuel

AU - Malmqvist, Elin

AU - Mlacha, Yeromin P.

AU - Gebru, Alem

AU - Okumu, Fredros

AU - Killeen, Gerry F.

AU - Kirkeby, Carsten

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Yearly, a quarter billion people are infected and a half a million killed by the mosquito-borne disease malaria. Lack of real-time observational tools for continuously assessing the unperturbed mosquito flight activity in situ limits progress toward improved vector control. We deployed a high-resolution entomological lidar to monitor a half-kilometer static transect adjacent to a Tanzanian village. We evaluated one-third million insect observations during five nights, four days, and one annular solar eclipse. We demonstrate in situ lidar classification of several insect families and their sexes based on their modulation signatures. We were able to compare the fine-scale spatiotemporal activity patterns of malaria vectors during ordinary days and an eclipse to disentangle phototactic activity patterns from the circadian mechanism. We observed an increased insect activity during the eclipse attributable to mosquitoes. These unprecedented findings demonstrate how lidar-based monitoring of distinct mosquito activities could advance our understanding of vector ecology.

AB - Yearly, a quarter billion people are infected and a half a million killed by the mosquito-borne disease malaria. Lack of real-time observational tools for continuously assessing the unperturbed mosquito flight activity in situ limits progress toward improved vector control. We deployed a high-resolution entomological lidar to monitor a half-kilometer static transect adjacent to a Tanzanian village. We evaluated one-third million insect observations during five nights, four days, and one annular solar eclipse. We demonstrate in situ lidar classification of several insect families and their sexes based on their modulation signatures. We were able to compare the fine-scale spatiotemporal activity patterns of malaria vectors during ordinary days and an eclipse to disentangle phototactic activity patterns from the circadian mechanism. We observed an increased insect activity during the eclipse attributable to mosquitoes. These unprecedented findings demonstrate how lidar-based monitoring of distinct mosquito activities could advance our understanding of vector ecology.

U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.aay5487

DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aay5487

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32426490

AN - SCOPUS:85084787771

VL - 6

JO - Science advances

JF - Science advances

SN - 2375-2548

IS - 20

M1 - eaay5487

ER -