Vol. 9, Issue 6, Part B (2022)

The purpose of the study is to determine the influence of climatic variables on the composition of mosquito species breeding in disposed automobile tyre dumpsite in Mile One, Port Harcourt, River State. A descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted to evaluate vector dominance, distribution, species diversity and seasonal variation on the abundance of mosquitoes at the dumpsite. For larval sampling, hundred dips were randomly collected from 100 sampling tyres twice every week for seven months. Climatic data such as rainfall, temperature and humidity were collected from Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Port Harcourt Station. Inferential statistics such as diversity index, correlation, and regression analysis were carried out at 5% level of significance. Monthly collection revealed that June had the highest collection of larvae 1041 (28.55%), followed by July, 966 (26.49%) while 2532 adult mosquitoes emerged of which Ae. albopictus was the highest. Species dominance and richness was highest in males while females recorded the highest in terms of evenness and diversity (Shannon index). More so, the T-test statistic using the Shannon and Simpson index revealed that diversity is significantly different (p-value <0.05) for both sexes. The correlation analysis revealed that mosquito abundance is significantly (p<0.05) related to temperature with a negative coefficient value of 0.639 and correlates positively with rainfall with a positive coefficient value of 0.804. Ae. aegypti aegypti was identified as the Aedes aegypti species using the DNA characterization. The non-existence of noticeable environmental control of illegal dumping of used tyres in urban and residential areas, coupled with lack of sensitization has made discarded tyres an important breeding habitat for mosquitoes of public health importance in Port Harcourt, River State Nigeria.