Global Environment Changes and Salinity Adaptation in Mosquito Vectors

This book compiles and summarises in a single volume recent original findings that 1) Anopheles culicifacies, normally considered to be a fresh water mosquito vector of malaria in South Asia is able to adapt to lay eggs and undergo pre-imaginal development in brackish water and 2) Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus the two major vectors of dengue and chikungunya worldwide as well as other arboviral diseases, are able to adapt to undergo larval development in brackish water collections near human habitations in tropical Asia. The significance of these findings for the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunya at the present time and in the context of likely future environmental changes in coastal areas, including a rise in sea levels due to global warming, is also examined. Specific measures that can be taken in tropical coastal areas to control mosquito-borne diseases now and in the future are outlined. The contents of this ground-breaking book will be of great value to biologists, climate change scientists, environmentalists, epidemiologists and health sector personnel and scientists working on vector-borne diseases.