Characterization of landscape features associated with mosquito breeding in urban Cairo using remote sensing

Problems of mosquito vectors proliferation have been increasing in Cairo in conjunction with urbanization and industrialization where several anopheline and culicine species have been collected. The present study was carried out to characterize the landscape variables potentially associated with mosquito breeding in a subset of urban Cairo. The study compared the capabilities of two satellite sensors, namely Landsat TM5 and Ikonos; in such endeavor. The study area encompassed 18 urban districts of Cairo. Mosquito breeding habitats were characterized within the district level using integrated remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) analyses. Different environmental variables derived from both satellite imageries were used to characterize landscapes of districts where mosquito breeding habitats occur. These variables include urbanization level, Land Use Land Cover (LULC), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), wetness, and Band 2/Band 4 (B2/B4) ratios. The majority of mosquito breeding sites (93.5%) were found in slum areas. For both sensors, districts where breeding sites occurred were characterized by significantly higher mean of soil percentage and lower mean of majority wetness. At this level of characterization, Landsat TM5 would be adequate for the major identification of habitat areas. For targeting mosquito larval control however, Ikonos would provide better inputs as it allowed a better classification of small land cover classes including water.