Spatial Distribution of Discarded Vehicle Tires and Their Influence on Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus Populations, New Orleans, Louisiana

Discarded vehicle tires play an important role in the colonization of container mosquito populations, particularly their geographic expansion. We assessed the spatial distribution of illegally discarded tires and their response to land use-land cover (LULC), and demographic factors using geospatial analysis and generalized regression. Multiple stepwise regressions were used to evaluate the response of the Container Index (CI) of colonized Aedes albopictus (Skuse), and Culex quinquefasciatus Say to macro- and microhabitats variables. The illegally discarded tires were distributed over 11 planning districts with clustering distribution for tires frequency and overdispersed distribution for tires number. Out of 1,137 (∼37.08%) water-holding tires, 598 (∼52.64%) tires at 65 (∼38.46%) sites were positive for colonized mosquito populations. A total of 13 mosquito species were identified, with the highest CI of Ae. albopictus (44.19%) and Cx. quinquefasciatus (22.18%). Aedes albopictus colonized all 65 sample sites and Cx. quinquefasciatus found at 32 sites. The Container Index (CI) of colonized mosquito was clustered in seven planning districts for Ae. albopictus and five planning districts for Cx. quinquefasciatus. Microhabitat (muddy water) rather than macrohabitats variables predicted both species’ colonization, especially Ae. albopictus. The contribution of macro- and microhabitat characteristics in predicting colonized mosquito in water-holding tires was discussed.