Mosquito surveillance in Rice fields and Wetlands of Greece – Focus on Evros River in Greek-Turkish Borders.
P. Pergantas, J. Moraitis, M. Botzaki
1: Bioapplications Ltd.
We performed a longitudinal survey of mosquitoes abundance in more than 40 sampling areas in 14 prefectures in Greece with ricefields (approximetly 24.000 ha) and wetlands. Analysis of selected samples showed great differences in abundance in Evros River compared to other areas in Greece with similar enviroments. The hypothesis was that differences were due to Turkish ricefields
(approximately 39.000 ha), situated across the river on the Turkish side, and not to the Evros delta (4.600 ha). We implemented different technologies(GIS, CO₂ traps ,Species Analysis) in order to
monitor the population abundance in three sampling areas consisting of eleven sampling stations.
Each sampling area was a vertical sections across the river with different geomorphological structure. Data analysis of over 135.000 trapped mosquitoes showed differences in species composition and relative decrease in abundance as we move away from the river. Those findings and seasonal distribution, support the hypothesis that mosquitoes nuisance in Evros area is due to Turkish ricefields.