MEMO-Monitoring exotic mosquitoes in Belgium

Isra Deblauwe1, Katrien De Wolf1, Dimitri Brosens2, Nathalie Smitz3, Adwine Vanslembrouck1, Wim Van Bortel1, Dimitri dimitri.brosens@inbo.be4

1 Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, , Belgium; 2 Belgian Biodiversity Platform, , Belgium; 3 BopCo, , Belgium; 4 

Corresponding author(s): Isra Deblauwe (ideblauwe@itg.be)Katrien De Wolf (katrien.dewolf@ugent.be)Dimitri Brosens (dimitri.brosens@inbo.be)Nathalie Smitz (nathalie.smitz@africamuseum.be)Adwine Vanslembrouck (avanslembrouck@itg.be)Wim Van Bortel (wvanbortel@itg.be)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Deblauwe I, De Wolf K, Brosens D, Smitz N, Vanslembrouck A, Van Bortel W (2022): MEMO-Monitoring exotic mosquitoes in Belgium. v1.13. Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp. Dataset/Samplingevent. https://ipt.biodiversity.be/resource?r=itm-memo-occurrence&v=1.13

Abstract

The published dataset MEMO - Monitoring of Exotic MOsquitoes in Belgium is a sampling event dataset published by the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp (Belgium) (ITM). It is part of the early detection of exotic mosquito species (EMS) along high-risk introduction routes in Belgium, in which data are collected at defined locations (i.e. Points of Entry or PoE’s) using a standardised protocol. The MEMO dataset contains mosquito sampling counts performed between 2017 and 2020, and the MEMO+2020, an extension of the MEMO dataset, contains only Aedes albopictus mosquito trap counts performed in 2020. Here, they are published as a standardised Darwin Core Archive, which includes for each sampling event an eventID, a date, a location and a sampling protocol (in the event core); and an occurrenceID for each occurrence (tube), the number of collected individuals per tube, species status (present/absent), information on the identification and scientific name (in the occurrence extension). Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/BelgianBiodiversityPlatform/data-publication-ITG/issues

We have released this dataset to the public domain under a https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ waiver. We would appreciate it if you follow the INBO norms for data use (https://www.inbo.be/en/norms-data-use) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, don't hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata.
We have released this dataset to the public domain under a https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ waiver. We would appreciate it if you follow the INBO norms for data use (https://www.inbo.be/en/norms-data-use) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, don't hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata.

Keywords: Samplingevent, Mosquito, surveillance, invasive Aedes, points of entry, introduction, Aedes albopictus, Aedes japonicus, Aedes koreicus, Belgium, disease vectors, Samplingevent

Project details

Project title: MEMO - Monitoring of Excotic Mosquitoes
Personnel: Isra Deblauwe
Funding: This three-year project was financed by the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels governments and the FPS Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment in the context of the National Environment and Health Action Plan (NEHAP).
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Belgium
Design description: Exotic mosquitoes, such as the tiger mosquito (Aedes albipoctus), are spreading as a result of increased globalisation and climate change. They were able to establish themselves in Southern Europe and now have also been spotted in Belgium. The tiger mosquito is a small but fierce creature with a painful bite that can also transmit viruses such as the dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses. The species originally came from Southeast Asia but has now spread to Europe and America due to international transport of goods, global warming and its ability to adapt. Early detection enables better control. Even if these species manage to establish themselves here, it is important to closely monitor populations.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.biodiversity.be/resource?r=itm-memo-occurrence

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Mosquitoes
Taxonomic ranks
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Superfamily: Culicoidea

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Belgium
Coordinates: 49°29'24''N and 51°30'36''N Latitude; 2°31'48''E and 6°24'36''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: August 17, 2017 - March 4, 2020

Natural collections description

Parent collection identifier: not applicable
Collection name: RBINS MEMO mosquito-collection
Collection identifier: IG 34179
Specimen preservation method: Mounted

Methods

Method step description: 
- . 	Researchers from ITM defined the appropriate sampling protocol for the target species.
- . 	Fieldwork was planned and coordinated by ITM
- . 	Data was collected in the field by trained personnel.
- . 	The collected data was entered into VecMap
- . 	The data was exported and manually corrected by experts
- . 	A custom R & Grel script was created to map the original data to Darwin Core as an event core with an occurrence extension (https://github.com/BelgianBiodiversityPlatform/data-publication-ITM)
- . 	The Darwin Core files are connected to the BBPF IPT and documented with metadata.
- . 	The dataset is published and registered with GBIF.
Study extent description: The objectives of the MEMO-project were the following:
• To actively monitor mosquitoes in order to detect the possible introduction of EMS in Belgium 
(scenario 1) and quantify the already established local populations of EMS (scenario 2);
• To detect, identify, evaluate and monitor potential import sites or points of entry (PoE’s) based on existing passive monitoring data, experience gained and/or other relevant epidemiological or 
ecological information;
• Possible expansion of the active basic monitoring plan with additional actions: quantifying the 
possible introduction and spread of newly detected EMS ;
• To process the collected samples including the morphological and molecular identification of 
collected samples, appropriate storage, reporting of all collected relevant stages of mosquito 
species, and the establishment of a morphological and molecular reference collection;
• Analysis of the import risk of EMS in Belgium taking into account the potential PoE’s, the ecological profile of the species and climate scenarios;
• To make recommendations for a future, long-term, cost-effective monitoring plan for EMS in 
Belgium based on the practical experience and the developed risk analysis;
• Responding to ad hoc questions from the contracting authority;
• Transferring the knowledge and skills generated in the project.
Sampling description: Different collection methods were used, including BG-Sentinel and Mosquito Magnet® traps to collect host seeking female mosquitoes, oviposition traps to detect eggs, and larval sampling. The collected specimens were sorted and identified using morphological characteristics. The caught EMS and five percent of all collected mosquitoes were molecularly identified to validate and confirm the morphological identification, and were subsequently deposited in a molecular reference collection.
Quality control description: Data are collected using a predefined sampling protocol and morphological identification was validated using DNA barcoding

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive MEMO-Monitoring exotic mosquitoes in Belgium
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.biodiversity.be/archive.do?r=itm-memo-occurrence
Publication date of data: 2022-05-12
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2021-08-24
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Deblauwe I., De Wolf K., Smitz N., Vanslembrouck A., Schneider A., De Witte J., Verlé I., Dekoninck W., De Meyer M., Backeljau T., Gombeer S., Meganck K., Van Bourgonie Y.-R., Vanderheyden A., Müller R., Van Bortel W. 2020. Monitoring of exotic mosquitoes in Belgium (MEMO): Final Report Phase 7 Part 1: MEMO results. 100 pp.
Ibáñez-Justicia, A., Smitz, N., den Hartog, W., van de Vossenberg, B., De Wolf, K., Deblauwe, I., Van Bortel, W., Jacobs, F., Vaux, A., Medlock, J. M., & Stroo, A. 2020. Detection of Exotic Mosquito Species (Diptera: Culicidae) at International Airports in Europe. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(10), 3450. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103450 
De Wolf K, Vanderheyden A, Deblauwe I, Smitz N, Gombeer S, Vanslembrouck A, Meganck K, Dekoninck W, DE Meyer M, Backeljau T, Müller R, VAN Bortel W. First record of the West Nile virus bridge vector Culex modestus Ficalbi (Diptera: Culicidae) in Belgium, validated by DNA barcoding. Zootaxa. 2021 Jan 27;4920(1):zootaxa.4920.1.7.  PMID: 33756679 https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4920.1.7
Smitz, N., De Wolf, K., Deblauwe, I. et al. Population genetic structure of the Asian bush mosquito, Aedes japonicus (Diptera, Culicidae), in Belgium suggests multiple introductions. 2021. Parasites Vectors 14, 179. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-021-04676-8
Smitz N., De Wolf, K., Gheysen A., Deblauwe I., Vanslembrouck A., Meganck K., De Witte J., Schneider A., VerléI., Dekoninck W., Gombeer S., Vanderheyden A., De Meyer M., Backeljau T., Müller R., Van Bortel W. (2021) DNA identification of species of the Anopheles maculipennis complex and first record of An. daciae in Belgium. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 35, 442–450 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1111/mve.12519
Deblauwe I.,Ibáñez-Justicia A., De Wolf K., Smitz N., Schneider A., Stroo A., Jacobs F., Vanslembrouck A., Gombeer S., Dekoninck W., Müller R., Van Bortel W. (2021) First detections of Culiseta longiareolata (Culicidae, Diptera) in Belgium and the Netherlands. Journal of Medical Entomology tjab127, https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjab127