Unlocking biodiversity insights from mosquito survey by-catch
Supervisors:
Prof Fredros Okumu, School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
Prof Juan Morales, School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
Summary:
VectorGrid-Africa, a newly established EU/EDCTP-funded network, is creating permanent observatories across Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, and Madagascar to monitor mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases. Each observatory node will generate vast insect collections but currently has no mechanism for handling or analyzing the large fraction of non-mosquito invertebrates yielded from the mosquito traps (the by-catch). This PhD will leverage these specimens to build a mosquito-associated biodiversity baseline and track changes in the insect communities in African ecosystems. Using DNA barcoding, metabarcoding, and ecological modelling, the student will characterize the composition and diversity of the mosquito-collection by-catch insects across multiple sites. They will investigate how climate variability, land use, and human activity shape non-target invertebrate communities and identify taxa that could serve as indicators of environmental change. By situating biodiversity monitoring within the framework of mosquito surveillance, this project will provide evidence for potential co-benefits of disease-focused observatories for broader planetary health. Outputs will include biodiversity baselines for African invertebrates, insights into ecosystem change drivers, and recommendations on integrating biodiversity indicators into long-term vector surveillance programs.