Phytotelm and anthropogenic mosquitoes: community structure in natural and artificial habitats in an Atlantic Forest agroforestry system, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract Agroforestry systems (AFSs) combine agricultural crops with native or exotic trees to promote sustainable production while creating heterogeneous landscapes with diverse fauna microhabitats. In the Atlantic Forest biome, how these systems shape immature mosquito (Culicidae) communities and vector dynamics remains poorly understood. We characterized the immature mosquito community (larvae and pupae) across five larval habitat types, three natural (bromeliads, bamboo internodes, and peach palm leaf bracts) and two artificial (a plastic tarp and a water barrel), in an AFS in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A total of 5,314 specimens belonging to 38 species distributed in 10 genera were collected. Natural larval habitats, particularly bromeliads and bamboo internodes, presented the highest species richness and harbored most of the exclusive taxa. Artificial habitats harbored fewer species, among them Culex quinquefasciatus , a synanthropic species of public health importance. Other epidemiologically relevant mosquitoes were Haemagogus leucocelaenus , Haemagogus janthinomys , and Aedes albopictus , the last of these a highly generalist species recorded in both natural and artificial larval habitats. Our results show that AFSs act as interface zones between forest and human-altered environments, with significant epidemiological implications: such systems can favor arbovirus spillover and bring vectors, human populations, and wildlife reservoirs into closer contact.