With the recent surge in arboviruses throughout North America, mosquitoes have become more than a nuisance; they have become a serious health risk. Understanding the population biology of these disease vectors will be crucial to effectively assessing the risk of outbreak for diseases such as West Nile virus, Dengue Fever, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Saint Louis Encephalitis, and Yellow Fever. Current models of mosquito population dynamics are only applicable at the scale for which they were built because environmental feedback factors driving processes at one scale may be of little importance at another. Furthermore, nonlinear processes and spatial variation within and among local populations prevent simple proportional scaling. Scale transition is a developing ecological theory that attempts to link small-scale and large-scale processes by incorporating environmental feedback mechanisms at multiple scales, and by providing a mathematical framework to account for non-linear processes.
Results/Conclusions
Using data collected under existing monitoring programs, we apply scale transition theory to mosquito population models. A better understanding of scale transition will potentially allow health managers better assess regional risk of arboviral transmission from local dynamics, and coordinate management strategies accordingly.
