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Abstract
Understanding the ecology of mosquitoes is important for implementing control measures and explaining mosquito-borne disease prevalence. I compared mosquito population dynamics to selected weather variables and land use/ cover in a longleaf pine dominated landscape on the Gulf Coastal Plain of Georgia. Important factors for determining mosquito presence/ absence were precipitation, temperature, humidity, and drought index. Aedes albopictus and Culex spp. mosquitoes were associated with sites that had the most anthropogenic influence, while Coquillettidia perturbans and Psorophora ferox were associated with natural land cover such as wetlands and forested land. Arbovirus testing yielded one isolation of West Nile virus and three isolations of Potosi virus. This low arbovirus prevalence is likely due to the diversity of the wildlife in the area or factors related to the bird community, which typically serves as a reservoir for arboviruses. Examination of mosquito host-feeding patterns showed the mosquitoes collected predominantly fed on white-tailed deer.