Biodiversity of Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in High‐Risk Areas of Mosquito‐Borne Diseases in Southeastern Iran

Background Bam County, owing its geographical location, is one of the high‐risk areas of mosquito‐borne diseases due to its ecological, socioeconomic, and topographic characteristics, but it seems that no study has been done on the species composition and biodiversity of mosquitoes in this area, so the present study aimed at determining mosquito biodiversity indices in various habitats of this county in order to identify high‐risk areas of mosquito‐borne disease. Methods Mosquito larvae were collected using standard dipping methods in 11 sample sites located in three habitats (urban, semiurban, and rural) of Bam County, from March 2022 to March 2023. Coexistence of various species of mosquito, alpha diversity indices including species richness, Margalef, CHAO1, species evenness, degree of presence or occurrence, degree of dominance, Shannon–Wiener, Simpson’s diversity (D) indices, and also beta diversity indices (Jaccard, Sorensen, complementarily, and Whittaker indices) were calculated by related formula. Results Generally, 3960 specimens belonging to four genera and 14 species were collected. Whittaker’s beta diversity index indicates a moderate level of species turnover among sites. Culiseta longiareolata Macquart, 1838 is constant and eudominant species, and Anopheles stephensi Liston, 1901 and Culiseta subochrea Edwards, 1921 are common species in the study area. The highest rate of Margalef, Shannon–Wiener, Simpson, and evenness indices was observed in urban habitat. According to complementarily dissimilarity index, the highest rate of dissimilarity (0.7) was between urban and rural habitats. Conclusions Based on biodiversity indices, urban and semiurban habitats are more at risk of mosquito‐borne disease outbreaks than rural biotope, Therefore, the control of mosquitoes and reservoirs in these two areas is very important to prevent possible outbreaks of mosquito‐borne diseases.