Relationships between Waters Quality and Mosquito Presence and Abundance: A PCA-Based Study in Souk el Arbaa, Morocco

Abstract

The degradation of the natural environment with urbanization and ruralization leads to the creation of new areas favorable to the proliferation of mosquitoes, which explains the generally considerable dispersion. The objective of our statistical study is to highlight how the quality of wastewater influences the density and proliferation of mosquitoes in the region of Souk el Arbaa (North-West Morocco). For two years, we carried out a statistical analysis (Principal Component Analysis (PCA), elementary and descriptive) on the variations in the density of species in the three sites studied. After having identified 5 species of the genus Culex (Culex pipiens Linné 1758, Culex theileri Theobald 1903, Culex perexiguus Theobald 1901, Culex impudicus Ficalbi 1890, Culex quinquefasciatus 1823). In the prospected breeding sites, the systematic inventory of Culicidae revealed that a breeding site must be rich in chloride, organic matter and ammoniacal nitrogen to allow the mosquito to develop rapidly and reach high densities.