Abstract：
Since its introduction to North America in 1999, the West Nile virus (WNV) has resulted in over 50,000 human cases and 2400 deaths. WNV transmission is maintained via mosquito vectors and avian reservoir hosts, yet mosquito and avian infections are not uniform across ecological landscapes. As a result, it remains unclear whether the ecological communities of the vectors or reservoir hosts are more predictive of zoonotic risk at the microhabitat level. We examined this question in central Iowa, representative of the midwestern United States, across a land use gradient consisting of suburban interfaces with natural and agricultural habitats. At eight sites, we captured mosquito abundance data using New Jersey light traps and monitored bird communities using visual and auditory point count surveys. We found that the mosquito minimum infection rate (MIR) was better predicted by metrics of the mosquito community than metrics of the bird community, where sites with higher proportions of Culex pipiens group mosquitoes during late summer (after late July) showed higher MIRs. Bird community metrics did not significantly influence mosquito MIRs across sites. Together, these data suggest that the microhabitat suitability of Culex vector species is of greater importance than avian community composition in driving WNV infection dynamics at the urban and agricultural interface.
摘要：
自1999年引入北美以来，西尼罗河病毒（WNV）已导致50,000多例人类病例和2400例死亡。WNV传播是通过蚊子媒介和鸟类水库宿主维持的，然而，蚊子和禽类感染在整个生态景观中并不统一。因此,目前尚不清楚媒介或水库宿主的生态群落是否更能预测微生境水平的人畜共患风险。我们在爱荷华州中部研究了这个问题，美国中西部的代表，跨越由郊区与自然和农业栖息地的界面组成的土地利用梯度。在八个地点，我们使用新泽西光捕获器捕获蚊子丰度数据,并使用视觉和听觉点数调查监测鸟类群落.我们发现，蚊子群落的指标比鸟类群落的指标更好地预测蚊子最低感染率（MIR），在夏末（7月下旬之后），淡色库蚊群蚊子比例较高的地点显示出较高的MIR。鸟类社区指标并未显着影响各个地点的蚊子MIR。一起,这些数据表明，在驱动城市和农业界面的WNV感染动态方面，库蚊媒介物种的微生境适应性比鸟类群落组成更为重要。
