Land use and mosquito diversity in the Peruvian Amazon.

Anthropogenic environmental disturbance is a significant factor driving mosquito community composition. However, researchers subjectively define environmental change creating difficulties for cross-study comparison. To examine the relationship between terrestrial change and mosquito composition, we used remote sensing techniques to define spatially explicit land use categories along a gradient with low (rural), medium (peri-urban), and high (urban) anthropogenic influence in the Peruvian Amazon. We found significant differences in mosquito diversity among land use categories. Our results provide baseline data linking mosquito distribution to land use in the Peruvian Amazon and present an easily replicable method of comparison for future research. Creating standardized methods to measure the impact of human influence on the environment is of particular importance in designing targeted public health policies and in predicting disease risk in rapidly changing environments such as the Amazon.