Graduate Program

Biological Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2005

Thesis Director

Gary Fritz

Thesis Committee Member

Scott Meiners

Thesis Committee Member

Thomas Nelson

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to address the ecological differentiation of anopheline mosquitoes at the level of breeding sites in an area where species diversity is high, malaria is endemic, and the ecology of the area is complex. Fifty six sampling sites in the Carrasco/Chapare Valleys, Bolivia were sampled in May 2003 for mosquito larvae and pupae, water quality parameters, breeding water habitat type, vegetation, and altitude. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction of up to 50 samples from each collection site identified six species in the subgenus Nyssorhynchus, comprising 62% of all samples (n = 2,708): A. triannulatus (18%), A. strodei (8%), A. rangeli (29%), A. trinkae (25%), А. oswaldoi (2%) and an undescribed species "C" (18%). Anopheles trinkae, A. oswaldoi, A. strodei and species C had geographically limited distributions, whereas A. triannulatus and A. rangeli were broadly distributed with more catholic habitat associations. Water quality parameters were reduced along two axes using Principal Component Analysis. Each axis correlated to a set of water quality parameters defining the breeding sites for each of the species.

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