Assessing and correcting neighborhood socioeconomic spatial sampling biases in citizen science mosquito data collection
Padilla-Pozo, Álvaro (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Bartumeus, Frederic (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Montalvo Porro, Tomas (Institut de Recerca Sant Pau)
Sanpera-Calbet, Isis (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Valsecchi, Andrea (Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona)
Palmer, John R. B. (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	Climatic, ecological, and socioeconomic factors are facilitating the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, heightening the importance of vector surveillance and control. Citizen science is proving to be an effective tool to track mosquito populations, but methods are needed to detect and account for small scale sampling biases in citizen science surveillance. In this article we combine two types of traditional mosquito surveillance records with data from the Mosquito Alert citizen science system to explore the ways in which the socioeconomic characteristics of urban neighborhoods result in sampling biases in citizen scientists' mosquito reports, while also shaping the spatial distribution of mosquito populations themselves. We use Barcelona, Spain, as an example, and focus on Aedes albopictus, an invasive vector species of concern worldwide. Our results suggest citizen scientists' sampling effort is focused more in Barcelona's lower and middle income census tracts than in its higher income ones, whereas Ae. albopictus populations are concentrated in the city's upper-middle income tracts. High resolution estimates of the spatial distribution of Ae. albopictus risk can be improved by controlling for citizen scientists' sampling effort, making it possible to provide better insights for efficiently targeting control efforts. Our methodology can be replicated in other cities faced with vector mosquitoes to improve public health responses to mosquito-borne diseases, which impose massive burdens on communities worldwide.
Grants:	"la Caixa" Foundation HR19-00336 European Commission 853271
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Mosquito-borne diseases ; Vector control ; Vector surveillance ; Aedes albopictus ; Citizen science ; Social inequality ; Urban ecology ; Environmental social sciences
Published in:	Scientific reports, Vol. 14 (September 2024) , art. 22462, ISSN 2045-2322

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-73416-6
PMID: 39341898

17 p, 3.2 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Institut de Recerca Sant Pau
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles