Identification of gravid mosquitoes from changes in spectral and polarimetric backscatter cross sections

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-2019

Abstract

Improving the survey of mosquito populations is of the utmost importance to further enhance mitigation techniques that protect human populations from mosquito-borne diseases. While mosquito populations are generally studied using physical traps, stand-off optical sensors allow to study insect ecosystems with potentially better spatial and temporal resolution. This can be greatly beneficial to eco-epidemiological models and various mosquito control programs. In this contribution, we demonstrate that the gravidity of female mosquitoes can be identified from changes in their spectral and polarimetric backscatter cross sections. Among other predictive variables, the wing beat frequency and the depolarization ratio of the mosquito body allows for the identification of gravid females with a precision and recall of 86% and 87%, respectively. Since female mosquitoes need a blood meal to become gravid, statistics on gravidity is of prime importance as only females that have been gravid might carry infectious diseases. In addition, it allows to detect possible breeding habitat, predict a potential increase in the mosquito population and provide a better overall understanding of the ecosystem dynamics. As a result, targeted and localized mitigation techniques can be used, reducing the cost and improving the efficiency of mosquito population control.

Identifier

85069645508 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Journal of Biophotonics

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1002/jbio.201900123

e-ISSN

18640648

ISSN

1864063X

PubMed ID

31211902

Issue

10

Volume

12

Grant

R03AI138133

Fund Ref

National Institutes of Health

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