AIMSurv Aedes Invasive Mosquito species harmonized surveillance in Europe. AIM-COST Action

Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca1, Carlos Barceló Seguí1

1 Universitat de les Illes Balears, Cra. Valldemossa Km 7,5, 07122, Palma, Spain

Corresponding author(s): Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca (ma.miranda@uib.es)Carlos Barceló Seguí (carlos.barcelo@uib.es)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Miranda Chueca M Á, Barceló Seguí C (2022): AIMSurv Aedes Invasive Mosquito species harmonized surveillance in Europe. AIM-COST Action. v2.3. Universitat de les Illes Balears. Dataset/Samplingevent. https://doi.org/10.15470/vs3677 https://doi.org/10.15470/vs3677

Abstract

To increase harmonization among European entomologists, the Aedes Invasive Mosquito species (AIM) COST Action (https://www.aedescost.eu) was initiated in 2018 including three major objectives: i) developing Pan-European networking and collaboration in monitoring and surveillance of AIM species; ii) increasing preparedness and capacity to fight against AIMs by triggering optimisation and innovation in AIM control strategies; iii) dissemination, customising and communicating the AIM-COST Action outcomes. 

AIM-COST Action aims to promote data sharing and harmonization. A particularly important objective is to ensure that vector sampling is consistent and compatible throughout Europe so an accurate continental picture of vector distributions can be obtained. For this, AIM‐COST organised a training course in Cyprus in January 2020 on harmonising AIM surveillance across Europe. As a result of the course, trainers and trainees developed a protocol for surveillance of AIM species that can be applied across Europe. Forty-six  teams from 24 countries (23 from Europe and one from North Africa) agreed on participating in the first-ever Pan-European surveillance of AIMs using a harmonized protocol (AIMSurv protocol; https://www.aedescost.eu/aimsurv). The AIMSurv protocol harmonized the sampling methods, frequency, minimum length of the sampling period and reporting. There were minimum requirements about the type of samples (i.e., eggs in oviposition traps) and recommended requirements for those teams having more resources (i.e., sampling of adults). Results from AIMSurv2020 are reported herein.

Keywords: Samplingevent, Aedes, Mosquito, Invasive, Surveillance, Europe, sampling

Project details

Project title: Aedes Invasive Moquitoes
Personnel: Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca, Carlos  Barceló, Daniele  Arnoldi, Xenia  Augsten, Karin  Bakran-Lebl, George  Balatsos, Mikel  Bengoa, Philippe  Bindler, Kristina  Boršová , Daniel  Bravo-Barriga,  Viktória  Čabanová, Beniamino  Caputo, Maria  Christou, Sarah  Delacour, Roger  Eritja, Ouafaa  Fassi-Fihri, Martina  Ferraguti,  Eleonora  Flacio, Eva  Frontera, Hans Peter  Fuehrer , Ana L.  García-Pérez , Pantelis  Georgiades, Sandra  Gewehr, Fátima  Goiri, Mikel Alexander  González, Martin  Gschwind,  Rafael  Gutiérrez-López, Cintia  Horváth,  Adolfo  Ibáñez-Justicia, Viola  Jani, Përparim  Kadriaj, Katja  Kalan, Mihaela  Kavran, Ana  Klobucar, Kornélia  Kurucz, Javier  Lucientes, Renke  Lühken, Sergio  Magallanes, Giovanni  Marini, Angeliki F.  Martinou, Alice  Michelutti , Andrei Daniel  Mihalca, Tomás  Montalvo, Fabrizio  Montarsi, Spiros  Mourelatos, Nesade  Muja-Bajraktari,  Pie  Müller, Gregoris  Notarides, Hugo  Costa Osório, José A.  Oteo, Kerem  Oter, Igor  Pajović, John R.B.  Palmer, Suncica  Petrinic, Cristian  Răileanu, Christian  Ries, Elton  Rogozi, Ignacio  Ruiz-Arrondo, Isis  Sanpera-Calbet, Nebojša  Sekulić , Kivanc  Sevim, Kurtesh  Sherifi, Cornelia  Silaghi, Manuel  Silva, Nikolina  Sokolovska, Zoltán  Soltész, Tatiana  Sulesco , Jana  Šušnjar, Steffanie  Teekema, Andrea  Valsecchi, Marlen Ines  Vasquez, Enkelejda  Velo, Antonios  Michaelakis , William  Wint, Dušan  Petrić, Francis  Schaffner, Alessandra  della Torre
Funding: COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Harmonized surveillance of Aedes Invasive Mosquito species in Europe
Design description: To increase harmonization among European entomologists, the Aedes Invasive Mosquito species (AIM) COST Action (https://www.aedescost.eu) was initiated in 2018 including three major objectives: i) developing Pan-European networking and collaboration in monitoring and surveillance of AIM species; ii) increasing preparedness and capacity to fight against AIMs by triggering optimisation and innovation in AIM control strategies; iii) dissemination, customising and communicating the AIM-COST Action outcomes. 

AIM-COST Action aims to promote data sharing and harmonization. A particularly important objective is to ensure that vector sampling is consistent and compatible throughout Europe so an accurate continental picture of vector distributions can be obtained. For this, AIM‐COST organised a training course in Cyprus in January 2020 on harmonising AIM surveillance across Europe. As a result of the course, trainers and trainees developed a protocol for surveillance of AIM species that can be applied across Europe. Forty-six  teams from 24 countries (23 from Europe and one from North Africa) agreed on participating in the first-ever Pan-European surveillance of AIMs using a harmonized protocol (AIMSurv protocol; https://www.aedescost.eu/aimsurv). The AIMSurv protocol harmonized the sampling methods, frequency, minimum length of the sampling period and reporting. There were minimum requirements about the type of samples (i.e., eggs in oviposition traps) and recommended requirements for those teams having more resources (i.e., sampling of adults). Results from AIMSurv2020 are reported herein.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=aimsurv

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Aedes Invasive Mosquito species are included, namely: Aedes albopictus, Aedes japonicus and Aedes
koreicus.
Native species of mosquitos are also included: Aedes caspius, Aedes detritus, Aedes geniculatus, Anopheles maculipennis, Anopheles plumbeus, Culex hortensis, Culex pipiens, Culex tritaeniorhynchus, Culiseta annulata and Culiseta longiareolata.
Unidentified species of the genera Aedes and Culex are also included.
Taxonomic ranks
Species: Aedes albopictus, Aedes koreicus, Aedes japonicus, Aedes caspius, Aedes detritus, Aedes geniculatus, Anopheles maculipennis, Anopheles plumbeus, Culex hortensis, Culex pipiens, Culex tritaeniorhynchus, Culiseta annulata, Culiseta longiareolata
Common names: Asian tiger mosquito, Korean bush mosquito, Rock pool mosquito, Salt marsh mosquito, Salt marsh mosquito, Tree hole mosquito, Northern house mosquito, Banded house mosquito

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: The AIMSurv harmonized surveillance of Aedes Invasive Mosquito species has been conducted in 23 European countries and one North African country: Albania, Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Turkey.
Coordinates: 20°57'39.6''N and 54°28'12''N Latitude; 17°13'37.2''W and 47°38'13.2''E Longitude 

Natural collections description

Collection name: AIMSurv
Specimen preservation method: Alcohol
Specimen preservation method: Deep frozen

Methods

Method step description: The sampling protocol for Pan-European surveillance of AIM species (AIMSurv harmonized the sampling methods, frequency, minimum length of the sampling period and the form of reporting. There were minimum requirements (Minimum Requirements Protocol; MRP) about the type of samples (i.e., eggs in ovitraps), number of sampled sites, number of traps and frequency of collecting samples. Teams with more resources were suggested to follow a Recommended protocol (RP) to either increase number of samplings and/ or, additionally to eggs, sample other life stages such as adults.   

The use of a common platform for data collection was also suggested, the VECMAP® App system was made freely available by Avia-GIS to all participants during AIMSurv activities.  

For the MRP, all teams performed the survey in three sampling sites separated by 10 Km or more. Five oviposition traps (ovitraps) per site were placed and separated by 15 to 100 m. The type of ovitrap was selected by each team according to their availability in the region but usually consisted of 250 to 1000 ml capacity black containers filled with tap water. One scratched wooden tongue depressor (1.7x15 cm) per ovitrap, was used as a substrate for oviposition. Some teams used similar size pieces of Masonite board (when part of a pre-existing surveillance network).  

The selected sampling sites shared a similar environment, when possible, in urban and/or peri-urban areas (e.g., a garden of single-family houses in residential urban/peri-urban areas, public parks near residential areas, recreational areas). The frequency of sample collection was biweekly over a minimum of three months that must include the population peak of the targeted AIM species (e.g., in Spain: from September to November).  

The following parameters were recorded: latitude and longitude of the position of each trap; the name of municipality/county/district (according to the country) and locality; start and end date of each trapping event (e.g., a period of 14 days / 2 weeks for ovitraps); land use according to VECMAP® categories (urban, peri-urban and others); count of each life stage collected, including absences (0 values); finally, trap status (e.g., missing, broken, empty, etc.) per trapping event was also recorded. 

The more ambitious RP sampling included additional sampling sites sharing similar or different environments (e.g., urban areas, rural areas, high altitude areas, etc), again with five ovitraps per site, weekly sampling frequency and sampling length during the whole seasonality of the AIM species including start, peak and end of the mosquito season (e.g., May to November in Central Europe). In addition, sampling adults using one BG-Sentinel™ (Biogents, Germany) trap baited with BG-Lure™ (Biogents, Germany) and/or CO2 per site under a sampling frequency of one trap/night per week was also included. The use of VECMAP® to report the data was also suggested in the RP. 

Parameters to record were the same as for the MRP plus the daily or weekly record of meteorological parameters (maximum, minimum, average temperature) per site, collected using data loggers or local weather stations. 

For the processing of samples, collected eggs of AIM species were counted. For every location, a sub-sample (2 out of 5 ovitrap substrates per locality) of eggs was reared to confirm the species by larva/adult morphology, particularly in those areas where several AIM species are present (i.e., Ae. albopictus and Ae. japonicus). Alternatively, species were identified using MALDI-TOF MS or other molecular methods (e.g., DNA sequencing). 

Adult of AIM species collected in BG-Sentinel™ were identified by morphology, sexed and counted. Suggested identification keys were ECDC (2012) and MosKeyTool V2.1 (Gunay et al. 2018). Samples of adults were preserved in 96% ethanol and/or cold preserved at -20/-80 °C to confirm identification if needed (e.g., via molecular tools).
Study extent description: Temporal coverage: Sampling period was different for each team but covering the seasonal peak of the targeted AIM species was mandatory. Considering all participating teams, the first team started at 15/01/2020 and the last team ended sampling at 31/12/20. In general, sampling was conducted between May-June and October-November for most of the teams.
  
Geographic coverage:  23 European countries and one African country: Albania, Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Turkey.
Sampling description: The sampling protocol for Pan-European surveillance of AIM species (AIMSurv harmonized the sampling methods, frequency, minimum length of the sampling period and the form of reporting. There were minimum requirements (Minimum Requirements Protocol; MRP) about the type of samples (i.e., eggs in ovitraps), number of sampled sites, number of traps and frequency of collecting samples. Teams with more resources were suggested to follow a Recommended protocol (RP) to either increase number of samplings and/ or, additionally to eggs, sample other life stages such as adults.   

The use of a common platform for data collection was also suggested, the VECMAP® App system was made freely available by Avia-GIS to all participants during AIMSurv activities.  

For the MRP, all teams performed the survey in three sampling sites separated by 10 Km or more. Five oviposition traps (ovitraps) per site were placed and separated by 15 to 100 m. The type of ovitrap was selected by each team according to their availability in the region but usually consisted of 250 to 1000 ml capacity black containers filled with tap water. One scratched wooden tongue depressor (1.7x15 cm) per ovitrap, was used as a substrate for oviposition. Some teams used similar size pieces of Masonite board (when part of a pre-existing surveillance network).  

The selected sampling sites shared a similar environment, when possible, in urban and/or peri-urban areas (e.g., a garden of single-family houses in residential urban/peri-urban areas, public parks near residential areas, recreational areas). The frequency of sample collection was biweekly over a minimum of three months that must include the population peak of the targeted AIM species (e.g., in Spain: from September to November).  

The following parameters were recorded: latitude and longitude of the position of each trap; the name of municipality/county/district (according to the country) and locality; start and end date of each trapping event (e.g., a period of 14 days / 2 weeks for ovitraps); land use according to VECMAP® categories (urban, peri-urban and others); count of each life stage collected, including absences (0 values); finally, trap status (e.g., missing, broken, empty, etc.) per trapping event was also recorded. 

The more ambitious RP sampling included additional sampling sites sharing similar or different environments (e.g., urban areas, rural areas, high altitude areas, etc), again with five ovitraps per site, weekly sampling frequency and sampling length during the whole seasonality of the AIM species including start, peak and end of the mosquito season (e.g., May to November in Central Europe). In addition, sampling adults using one BG-Sentinel™ (Biogents, Germany) trap baited with BG-Lure™ (Biogents, Germany) and/or CO2 per site under a sampling frequency of one trap/night per week was also included. The use of VECMAP® to report the data was also suggested in the RP. 

Parameters to record were the same as for the MRP plus the daily or weekly record of meteorological parameters (maximum, minimum, average temperature) per site, collected using data loggers or local weather stations. 

For the processing of samples, collected eggs of AIM species were counted. For every location, a sub-sample (2 out of 5 ovitrap substrates per locality) of eggs was reared to confirm the species by larva/adult morphology, particularly in those areas where several AIM species are present (i.e., Ae. albopictus and Ae. japonicus). Alternatively, species were identified using MALDI-TOF MS or other molecular methods (e.g., DNA sequencing). 

Adult of AIM species collected in BG-Sentinel™ were identified by morphology, sexed and counted. Suggested identification keys were ECDC (2012) and MosKeyTool V2.1 (Gunay et al. 2018). Samples of adults were preserved in 96% ethanol and/or cold preserved at -20/-80 °C to confirm identification if needed (e.g., via molecular tools).
Quality control description: All participants in AIMSurv reported data using a harmonized template. All data reported has been curated and the terminology has been homogenized. Data has been validated using the validator available in GBIF.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive AIMSurv Aedes Invasive Mosquito species harmonized surveillance in Europe. AIM-COST Action
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.gbif.es/archive.do?r=aimsurv
Publication date of data: 2022-05-19
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2022-03-11
Hierarchy level: Dataset