Pond age and agricultural land cover influence the occurrence of Anopheles maculipennis in garden ponds in Hungary

Abstract

Garden ponds are important elements of urban landscapes and provide numerous ecosystem services, but they may also support mosquito populations that can act as vectors of pathogens. However, mosquito occurrence in garden ponds has so far received limited attention. We engaged citizen scientists to provide data on their garden ponds and collect water samples for eDNA analysis to assess mosquito occurrence in 319 garden ponds across Hungary, with special focus on Anopheles maculipennis, a potential malaria-vector species. We tested the effects of land cover, local pond management activities and environmental factors on the probability of An. maculipennis occurrence in garden ponds. Overall mosquito occurrence was relatively low, with mosquitoes detected in 59 ponds (18%) and An. maculipennis detected in 46 ponds (14%). Agricultural land cover and pond age were associated with the occurrence of An. maculipennis in garden ponds. A higher percentage of agricultural land cover within 1000 m of garden ponds increased the probability of An. maculipennis occurrence, while occurrence was higher in newly created ponds ([≤] 2 years). Our results suggest that landscape context is more important than local pond characteristics in determining the occurrence of An. maculipennis in garden ponds. This study contributes to a better understanding of the landscape context in which a potential malaria-vector species occurs in urban and peri-urban environments and highlights the value of citizen science for large-scale data collection from privately owned ponds that are otherwise inaccessible to researchers.