Vector and Pest Dispersal via Sun Heated Vehicle Microenvironments

Some vector species have limited dispersal abilities. This includes important disease vectors such as Aedes aegypti which averages just over 100 meters flight range based on multiple studies. This limited dispersal provides hope to control the spread of diseases, but just as larvae are able to move in scrap tires, infected adult mosquitoes may also find means to disperse to geographic localities without the disease. While the ability to be transported in vehicles is often assumed, there is no published data showing that solar heating of vehicles can still allow vector organisms to find microenvironments that allow survival and transport. Insect pests species, including agricultural, are also able to use vehicles for transport to new areas. This study is the first to demonstrate temperatures and their high variability inside passenger cars. The sunlight heating from 45 to 460 minutes resulted in temperature ranges inside of trunks from 32.5℃ to 43.5℃, the surface of shaded seats surfaces ranged from 42.2℃ to a high of 62℃, while objects under the seat ranged from 32.5℃ to 39.4℃. These areas protected from the highest temperatures, as well as glove boxes, console areas, and floor mats, should allow for the transport of the vectors, and their diseases, to new geographic areas. Controlling the spread of newly emerging diseases needs to include consideration of, and limiting, means of vector transport by vehicles. This may be critical for limiting the spread of vectors and their pathogens with the coming disease situations associated with climate change.