Broad-Scale Landscape Structure Shapes Anopheline Assemblages in an Amazonian Deforestation Frontier

Previous work in this Amazonian deforestation frontier identified a broad-scale landscape signal for malaria-vector abundance and infected-anopheline occurrence, generating the hypothesis that the anopheline assemblage itself may be organized by landscape structure. Here, we tested whether anopheline richness, total abundance, Nyssorhynchus darlingi abundance and multispecies assemblage structure are associated with landscape composition, configuration and spatial extent. We analyzed 365 anophelines from 22 landscapes and eight species using Bayesian count and hierarchical multispecies models. Predictors represented forest cover, secondary forest, water, exposed soil, forest configuration and river proximity across 3, 5 and 7 km2. The 7 km2 scale received the strongest support across responses. Forest cover consistently increased richness and community abundance, exposed soil reduced abundance-based responses, and forest edge density contributed to the best multispecies model. These findings indicate that broad-scale landscape structure organizes anopheline assemblages that may underlie malaria transmission in Amazonian frontier regions.