Investigating the Relationship Between Urbanization and Mosquito Hotspots

To further understand the way mosquitos affect our daily activities, we attempted to investigate how urban development in metropolitan areas affects both mosquito hotspots and awareness of citizen science. Previously, the correlation between mosquitoes and factors such as their breeding grounds has been the basis for several studies. However, we wanted to take a closer look at how inhabitants and environmental occurrences affect mosquito counts. In this study, we analyzed specific variables such as population and rainfall data, and locally collected larvae data in three different cities (Los Angeles, Charlotte, Atlanta). Using regression analysis, basic analyses of climate data, python and pandas program, and results from surveying the three locations on mosquito activity and urbanization-based work (e.g construction) in their area, we determined the extent of correlation between urbanization and mosquitos. The results show that more mosquito hotspots occur in locations with high precipitation, and more awareness of citizen science exists within a higher population. This could be due to the preexisting relationship between high humidity levels and increase in mosquito larvae and the concept of increased exposure to citizen science within larger populations. Additionally, there was a significant relationship between precipitation and mosquito count in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Charlotte, however, the models for both Atlanta and Charlotte held low r2 values. The reason for this could be consistency issues with Atlantas & Charlottes precipitation data as they could have had inconsistent climate patterns during the period of data collection. There was a significant relationship between population and mosquito count in Atlanta and Charlotte with high r2 values. This may be due to the cities' relatively suburban landscape which allows for improved data collecting and minimal external factors. With these results, the conclusion of an existing relationship between urbanization along with mosquito hotspots and citizen science can be drawn, however, it varies on the population density, climate patterns, and current urban activity of the area. To improve the validity of these findings, we can consider using more cities, using different variables like building density, and branching out to foreign nations.