Advances in Applied Science Technologies for Surveillance and Management of Arthropods of Public Health Importance

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical and Livestock Entomology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 969

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Lee County Mosquito Control District, Lehigh Acres, FL, USA
Interests: vector surveillance and control; vector pathogen screening; arthropod biology; ecology; taxonomy and systematics

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Guest Editor
Department of Preventive Medicine & Biostatistics, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
Interests: parasitology; malaria; medical entomology; epidemiology; vector-borne disease; vector surveillance; arboviruses

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Applied science technologies used for the surveillance and management of medically important arthropods employ scientific principles to solve real-world problems, including mitigating insecticide resistance and the influence of environmental conditions on vector populations. Cutting-edge evaluation of novel interventions, field validation of surveillance and pesticide application equipment, and practical implementation of biological agents or genetically based population manipulations should be optimized and integrated into operational programs. Therefore, we are pleased to invite submissions of research and review articles on managing public health arthropods to this Special Issue of Insects. Manuscripts addressing pragmatic laboratory and field techniques to advance the surveillance and management of pestiferous public health arthropod populations are welcome.

Dr. James C. Dunford
Dr. Bernard Okech
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • applied science technologies
  • testing and evaluation
  • field validation
  • arthropod management
  • arthropod surveillance
  • public health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 837 KB  
Article
Evidence for Threshold-like Dynamics in Aedes Mosquito Populations Under Sustained Mass Trapping on Tropical Islands
by Maximilian Epple, Andreas Rose, Martin Geier and Bart G. J. Knols
Insects 2026, 17(5), 472; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects17050472 - 2 May 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 541
Abstract
Mass trapping of adult mosquitoes is increasingly promoted as an environmentally friendly alternative to insecticide-based vector control, yet quantitative evidence for its long-term population-level effects remains limited. We analyzed adult Aedes mosquito Biogents trap data from four tropical islands (three in the Maldives, [...] Read more.
Mass trapping of adult mosquitoes is increasingly promoted as an environmentally friendly alternative to insecticide-based vector control, yet quantitative evidence for its long-term population-level effects remains limited. We analyzed adult Aedes mosquito Biogents trap data from four tropical islands (three in the Maldives, one in the Philippines) where mass trapping was implemented at different trap densities. Using equilibrium-constrained population models, we describe how adult Aedes populations differ across trap densities, with outcomes ranging from partial suppression to near-zero levels at higher trap densities. At low to intermediate densities (4–6 traps·ha−1), populations stabilized at non-zero equilibrium levels, whereas operational elimination was consistently observed at densities ≥ 10 traps ha−1. A descriptive curve is shown to illustrate the decline in equilibrium abundance with increasing trap density, while a conceptual sigmoid model is used to illustrate how a transition in the recruitment–removal balance may occur under theoretical conditions. Limited larval source management was implemented on two islands, but elimination was also observed in the absence of larval interventions, indicating that sustained adult removal appears to have been the dominant driver of suppression. These findings indicate that mass trapping, when deployed at sufficiently high densities, is associated with rapid declines to near-zero population levels and may serve as an effective component of integrated vector management, particularly in geographically bounded settings or as a rapid-response intervention during outbreaks of arboviral diseases. Full article
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