Rapid range shifts in African Anopheles mosquitoes over the last century.
Biol Lett
; 19(2): 20220365, 2023 02.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36789530
ABSTRACT
Facing a warming climate, many tropical species-including the arthropod vectors of several infectious diseases-will be displaced to higher latitudes and elevations. These shifts are frequently projected for the future, but rarely documented in the present day. Here, we use one of the most comprehensive datasets ever compiled by medical entomologists to track the observed range limits of African malaria mosquito vectors (Anopheles spp.) from 1898 to 2016. Using a simple regression approach, we estimate that these species' ranges gained an average of 6.5 m of elevation per year, and the southern limits of their ranges moved polewards 4.7 km per year. These shifts would be consistent with the local velocity of recent climate change, and might help explain the incursion of malaria transmission into new areas over the past few decades. Confirming that climate change underlies these shifts, and applying similar methods to other disease vectors, are important directions for future research.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Malaria
/
Anopheles
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Biol Lett
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Estados Unidos