Association of avian biodiversity and West Nile Virus circulation in Culex mosquitoes in Emilia-Romagna, Italy

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Abstract
Background: West Nile Virus (WNV) is a zoonotic arbovirus maintained in a transmission cycle between Culex mosquitoes and birds, occasionally spilling over into humans. The impact of avian biodiversity on WNV circulation remains debated, with studies reporting both negative and positive correlations (dilution and amplification effects respectively) across different settings. In Europe, this relationship remains largely unexplored, particularly in regions with high WNV transmission, such as Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy. Methods: We explored the association between avian biodiversity and WNV circulation in Culex mosquitoes in Emilia-Romagna using 11 years (2013–2023) of entomological surveillance data paired with two avian data sources. We calculated avian biodiversity indices (Shannon’s, Simpson’s, and Chao2) from observation records from the Farmland Bird Index project and applied linear regression models to assess their relationship with WNV detection frequency. Moreover, we used Bayesian spatiotemporal regression models and gridded weekly avian abundance estimates from the eBird project to analyse the associations between avian species richness indices and WNV transmission risk quantified by vector index (VI) at 68 geolocated mosquito traps across the region. Results: We observed consistent negative associations between WNV detection frequency in the Culex population and avian biodiversity indices, supporting the dilution effect hypothesis (DEH). We found that non-passerine species richness was negatively associated with VI while passerine species richness showed a positive association after adjusting for covariates and spatial random effects. These findings suggest that passerines may amplify WNV transmission, whereas the presence of non-passerine species is associated with reductions in WNV circulation. Significance: This study provides the first empirical evidence supporting the DEH for WNV in Europe. These findings have important implications for biodiversity conservation and integrated public health surveillance activities across Europe.
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Funding Information
  • European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
  • Wellcome Trust (226727/Z/22/Z)
  • NERC Grantham Institute SSCP DTP (NE/S007415/1)
  • Medical Research Council (MR/X020258/1)
  • Wellcome Trust (213494/Z/18/Z and 228185/Z/23/Z)

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