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Table 1 Population parameters of IMS 1 , a dictionary

From: Monitoring population and environmental parameters of invasive mosquito species in Europe

Parameter

Meaning

Abundance

Strictly applicable to quantity only; number of specimens of a certain species (absolute, relative, or index)

Basic reproduction number R0

The average number of secondary cases of disease arising from each primary infection in a certain population of susceptible humans/hosts. The disease can invade/maintains if R0 > 1, whereas it cannot/decreases if R0 < 1.

Birth rate

The ratio of the number of live births in a period of time in a given area/larval habitat in relation to a given portion of the population in that area/larval habitat.

Biting behaviour

Usually related to host finding (foraging) behaviour of the species. Most often depicts the part of the day (diurnal, crepuscular, nocturnal biting behaviour) when most of the specimens of a particular mosquito species forage for the blood meal.

Blood feeding behaviour

Haematophagy (sometimes spelled hematophagy) is the practice of mosquitoes of feeding on blood. In relation to host preference, mosquitoes could be opportune (specialized) or catholic (unspecialized) feeders. If IMS tends to feed repeatedly (from same or different host) to complete one blood meal it is called multiple feeding.

Death rate

The frequency of death; the proportion of deaths in a specified number of the population (mortality rate).

Density

The number of individuals of the same species that live in a given unit area.

Dispersal

The outward extension of the range of the species, usually resulting from the chance event; ability of an IMS to spread around/from the breeding site.

Fecundity

The innate capacity of an organism to form reproductive elements such as ova or sperm; the potential capacity for reproduction.

Fertility

The natural capability to produce offspring; as a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of offspring born per mating pair, individual or population.

Generation time

The doubling time of a species under the influence of certain ecological conditions, or the time elapsed from one egg laying to the next.

Gonotrophic cycle

The duration of time between two ovipositions, i.e. the time females spend for host-seeking, blood feeding, resting (digestion and egg maturation time), and oviposition (seeking the site and laying the eggs) in nature, or from blood meal to egg laying in the laboratory.

Intrinsic rate of increase

A population’s growth rate, derived by subtracting the instantaneous death rate from the instantaneous birth rate (innate rate of increase).

Longevity

The duration of life of an individual (lifespan).

Net reproductive (replacement) rate

The total amount of offspring that a newly born female can expect to bear during a lifetime.

Survival rate

The rate of specimens remaining alive in a given period of time (e.g. daily), especially under adverse conditions.

Vectorial capacity

A mathematical expression of the probability of disease transmission by a specific vector species. The average number of inoculations from a single case of disease in a day, from vector population to man, assuming that all mosquitoes that bite an infected person get infected. This is mosquito component of the basic reproduction number R0.

Vector competence

Ability of a mosquito species to transmit a specific disease expressed in relative number of females infective (usually head or salivary glands are checked) with the pathogen.

  1. 1Estimates of these parameters are available in the literature for most of the vector species. However, it is recommended to also estimate them for the local mosquito population as these parameter estimates might vary according to the population and are influenced by environmental factors.