Monthly mosquito sampling in Montpellier (Occitanie), France, 2023

The V2MOC project, led by Florence Fournet (IRD), aims to study the impact of urban greening on vector-borne health risks affecting humans, animals, and plants in the metropolitan areas of Montpellier and Toulouse. With a strong focus on Aedes albopictus and the health risks associated with this species, the project is organized into three work packages (WPs). The first and third WPs focus on stakeholders’ perceptions of risk and explore potential mitigation solutions. The second WP, which this dataset contributes to, involves collecting entomological and environmental data to model these risks, as part of a PhD thesis supervised by Nicolas Moiroux (IRD) and Émilie Bouhsira (ENVT).

In the V2MOC project, entomological collections took place in two municipalities: in Montpellier and in Toulouse. This dataset focus on the entomological collection of 2023 which occured in Montpellier, in different urban green areas and in the city center.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of urban vegetation on the presence and abundance of Aedes albopictus in different cities. This dataset specifically focuses on Aedes albopictus in Montpellier. BG Pro traps were placed in various urban green areas and in the city center over a period of six months. Microclimatic data were also collected next to each trap. After collection, the mosquitoes were identified and counted. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using meteorological, microclimatic, and land cover data from open-access databases to assess the impact of urban greening on Aedes albopictus.

This project, including the associated doctoral contract, was funded by the Occitanie Region and the University of Montpellier as part of the RIVOC Key Challenges initiative (Défi Clef RIVOC: https://rivoc.edu.umontpellier.fr/projets-predefinis/).