Observation and Simulation of Mosquito Breeding Site Water Temperature for Malaria Transmission at Kaita Local Governmet Township of Katsina State, Nigeria

Studies showed that transmission of malaria is influenced by environmental factors such as temperature. This work is aimed at finding the impact of mosquito's breeding site water temperature on mosquito's larva development time. An artificial mosquito's breeding habitat was created. The water temperature of the habitat was measured at an hourly interval, then it is averaged into daily time scale. Weather variables of the experimental site were inpu into the the energy balance model to simulate the breeding habit water temperature. The mosquito's larva development time was then predicted by inputting both the observed water and simulated water temperature into the vector borne disease community model (VECTRI) .The daily maximum, and minimum observed water temperatures were 27.9°C, 32.6°C and 21.7°C, respectively. The daily mean, maximum, and minimum simulated water temperatures were 29.8°C, 35.6°C, and 23.5°C respectively. These temperatures are within the temperature range that supports mosquito’s larva development. Mosquito's larva development was predicted using the VECTRI model. According to this study larva development reached completion in 7.1 days using the observed water temperature, 6.03 days using the simulated water temperature and 8.01days using the observed air temperature. This energy balance model is an improved water temperature scheme over the assumption that air temperature is equal to air temperature. This work shows the importance of water temperature and the value of degree day required for emergence of an adult mosquito in the simulation of aquatic stage development. Both the observed water and simulated water temperatures are higher than the on observed air temperature, thus air temperature cannot be used as the water temperature in the simulation of the mosquito’s larva development time. The finding of the work can be  used as source toward mosquito's larval control through water temperature. It is however clear from the finding that could be as result of temperature due to shorter time predicted for mosquito's larval development.