Summary
The
authors present data collected by six weather stations placed in Romania,
as part of the East-BTNet regional project. The weather stations were
equipped with smart sensors to collect information on air and soil
temperature, atmospheric relative humidity, soil moisture and wind
speed, factors that may influence the development and activity of
Culicoides insects, vectors of bluetongue virus. Concomitantly
with the monitoring of the environmental parameters, insects were
captured, examined and identified according to the standard methods.
The six weather stations were placed in locations with different geo-climatic
conditions (seaside, mountains, plateaux and plains) to establish
whether there is a correlation between environmental parameters and
insect populations, especially for the Pulicaris, Obsoletus and Nubeculosus
Complexes. A correlation between environmental conditions and the
activity of vector populations was observed. The characteristics of
the climate influenced the size of vector populations (sub-Mediterranean
climate in the south-west and temperate continental climate in the
centre of the country).
Keywords
Bluetongue,
Culicoides, Environment, Geographic information system, Monitoring,
Parameter, Romania, Vector, Weather station.
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