J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 65 Original Article Physicochemical Characteristics of Larval Habitat Waters of Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Qom Province, Central Iran Mohammad Reza Abai 1, Abedin Saghafipour 2, Hossein Ladonni 1, Nahid Jesri 3, Saeed Omidi 4, *Shahyad Azari-Hamidian 4 1Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2Qom Provincial Health Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran 3Department of Watershed and Rangeland Management, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran 4School of Health, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran (Received 20 Sep 2014; accepted 18 Oct 2014) Abstract Background: Mosquitoes lay eggs in a wide range of habitats with different physicochemical parameters. Ecological data, including physicochemical factors of oviposition sites, play an important role in integrated vector management. Those data help the managers to make the best decision in controlling the aquatic stages of vectors especially using source reduction. Methods: To study some physicochemical characteristics of larval habitat waters, an investigation was carried out in Qom Province, central Iran, during spring and summer 2008 and 2009. Water samples were collected during larval collection from ten localities. The chemical parameters of water samples were analyzed based on mg/l using standard methods. Water temperature (°C), turbidity (NTU), total dissolved solids (ppm), electrical conductivity (µ S/cm), and acidity (pH) were measured using digital testers. Thermotolerant coliforms of water samples were analyzed based on MPN/100ml. Data were assessed by Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman Correlation analysis. Results: In total, 371 mosquito larvae were collected including 14 species representing four genera. Some physico- chemical parameters of water in Emamzadeh Esmail, Qomrood, Qom City, and Rahjerd showed significant differ- ences among localities (P< 0.05). The physicochemical and microbial parameters did not show any significant dif- ferences among different species (P> 0.05). There was no significant correlation between the abundance of larvae and the different physicochemical and microbial parameters (P> 0.05). Conclusion: The means of EC, TDS, and phosphate of localities and species were remarkably higher than those of the previous studies. Other parameters seem to be in the range of other investigations. Keywords: Anopheles, Culex, Culiseta, Ochlerotatus, larvae, oviposition site Introduction Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) lay eggs in a wide range of habitats with different physicochemical characteristics. The tem- perature of larval habitat water has a great influence on the development of the aquatic stages of mosquitoes (Muirhead-Thomson 1951). While some subarctic aedine species larvae are able to develop at 1.1°C, the de- velopment of many mosquito species criti- cally decrease below 14–16 °C. On the other hand, few species are able to breed and survive at 42 °C in tropical areas, while the tempera- ture above 30 °C decreases larval development and 37–38 °C is fatal for many temperate species (Muirhead-Thomson 1951, Clements 1992). Most of mosquito larvae develop in fresh water (a salinity of up to 2 parts per thou- sand). However, nearly 5 % live in brackish (a salinity between fresh water and sea water - 34.5 per thousand) or saline waters (very rich in soluble salts). Some species occur in both fresh and brackish waters, even closely *Corresponding author: Dr Shahyad Azari- Hamidian, E-mail: azari@gums.ac.ir http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 66 related species may be found in different lar- val habitats for example fresh and brackish waters for the Maculipennis Group species and fresh, brackish, and saline habitats for An. gambiae Giles complex species (Clements 1992). In nature different mosquito larvae species were found in a wide range of pH from 3.3 to 10.5 and some species were reared in pH from 2 to 9 in the laboratory. Many species larvae were found in both acid and alkaline habitats. Though pH effects on the distribution of some species, there is no evidence that pH is a limiting factor (Clements 1992). Organic matter and pollution, for ex- ample ammonium ion, which has a range be- tween 2 to 5 mM in sewage, can restrict lar- val breeding and few species survive in heavily polluted waters. Anopheline larvae mainly develop in clean water and seldom are found in polluted habitats, which seem to be favorable for some culicines (Muirhead- Thomson 1951, Clements 1992). Malaria is the most important mosquito- borne disease in Iran, especially in southern and southeastern areas, and seven species of the genus Anopheles Meigen are known as proven vectors in the country, An. culicifa- cies Giles s.l., An. dthali Patton, An. fluviati- lis James s.l., An. maculipennis Meigen s.l., An. sacharovi Favre, An. stephensi Liston, and An. superpictus Grassi (Hanafi-Bojd et al. 2011). The mosquito fauna of Iran in- cludes seven genera and 64 species (Azari- Hamidian 2007a). Qom Province is located in the central plateau of Iran where the risk of malaria in- fection is lower than the southern and south- eastern areas of the country. However, the situation of the province increases the risk of transmission, because many passengers/ pil- grims visit the province from different parts of the country including malarious areas (Farzinnia et al. 2010). The province is clas- sified in the stratum 2 (with the imported cases of malaria and potential transmission) of the National Malaria Strategy Plan for Malaria Control in Iran (Raeisi et al. 2004). In total, 448 cases of malaria were recorded in Qom Province during 2001–2008. The trend of disease shows decline in the province like many other Iranian provinces. Total number of the cases has been decreased from 151 in 2001 to 22 in 2008. Though nearly all cases are imported from outside of the province with mostly non-Iranian origin, one indige- nous case was found in 2004 (Farzinnia et al. 2010). After 2008, the cases were 16, 24, 49, and 54 from 2009 to 2012, respectively (un- published data from Department of Disease Control, Deputy of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences). Macan (1950) found An. multicolor Com- bouliu larvae in “Darya-i-Namak” (Namak Lake, Salt Lake, or Qom Lake). Macan (1950) also showed An. superpictus around Qom in the distributional maps. Farzinnia et al. (2010) reported An. claviger (Meigen) for the first time in the province. Saghafipour et al. (2012) found 14 species representing four genera in Qom Province including 12 new provincial records. In total, 15 species and 4 genera are found in the province. There is little information about physico- chemical characteristics of larval habitats in Iran. In the most of previous investigations, the collecting data of larval habitats included only water temperature and/or pH (eg Macan 1950, Lotfi 1976, Azari-Hamidian et al. 2004, Azari-Hamidian 2005, 2006, 2007b, 2011). Yaghoobi-Ershadi et al. (2001) investigated the bionomics of An. sacharovi in Ardebil Province, northwestern Iran, with a note on salinity, based on Calcium Bicarbonate and Sodium Sulfate, for the larval habitats of species. Ghanbari et al. (2005) studied some physical and chemical factors of oviposition sites including turbidity, electrical conduc- tivity (EC), temperature, pH, total hardness, calcium, chloride, sulfate, nitrate, phosphate, and nitrite in Iranshahr, southeastern Iran, where eight anopheline species including An. culicifacies s.l., An. stephensi, An. dthali, An. http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 67 hyrcanus (Pallas) (Most probably misidenti- fication), An. superpictus, An. turkhudi Lis- ton, An. multicolor, and An. pulcherrimus Theobald were collected. Hanafi-Bojd et al. (2012) investigated larval habitats, including the temperature, pH, total hardness, EC, and dry residue of waters, and biodiversity of anophelines in Bashagard, southern Iran. Ecological data, such as physicochemical factors of oviposition sites, larval habitat characteristics, species composition, and ac- tive season play an important role in inte- grated vector management (IVM). Those data help the managers to make the best de- cision in controlling the aquatic stages of vec- tors especially using source reduction through environmental manipulation and modification in addition to chemical and biological con- trols. To study some physicochemical fea- tures of habitat water of mosquito larvae, this investigation was carried out in Qom Province, central Iran. Materials and Methods Study area Qom Province is bounded by Tehran Province in the north, Isfahan Province in the south, Semnan Province in the east, and Markazi Province in the west with an area of approximately 11,240 square kilometers (0.68 % total area of Iran). The center of the prov- ince, Qom City, is almost 880 m above sea level. The province with arid climate has about 150 mm annual rainfall and is located be- tween 34o09'–35o11' N latitude and 50o06'– 51o58' E longitude and formally includes one county (Qom) and five districts, Jafarabad, Kahak, Khalajestan, Markazi (Qom), and Salafchegan (Fig. 1). Specimen and data collection Larval collection was carried out from dif- ferent habitats using dipping method (350 ml dipper) in ten localities of four districts, Kahak District (Emamzadeh Esmail and Dastgerd), Khalajestan District (Ahmadabad, Agholak, Dastjerd, and Ghahan), Markazi District (Qom City and Qomrood), and Salafchegan District (Ghal-e-cham and Rahjerd) during spring and summer 2008 and 2009. The larvae were preserved in lactophenol and the microscope slides of the preserved larvae were prepared using de Faure’s medium. The third-and fourth- instar larvae were identified using the key of Azari-Hamidian and Harbach (2009). The mosquito name abbreviations follow Reinert (2009). Physicochemical analysis of water of lar- val habitats The samples of water of larval habitats in ten aforementioned localities were collected and the chemical factors including alkalinity, total hardness (both based on CaCo3), cal- cium (Ca), chloride (Cl), fluoride (F), nitrite (NO2), nitrate (NO3), phosphate (PO4), and sulfate (SO4) were analyzed based on mg/l using standard methods (Rice et al. 2012). Moreover, other physicochemical parameters which were tested, their units, and digital testers, are as follow: water temperature (°C) (Cyberscan, Singapore), turbidity (NTU) (Aqualytic, Germany), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) (ppm) (Cyberscan, Singapore), Elec- trical Conductivity (EC) (µS/cm) (Cyberscan, Singapore), and acidity (pH) (Cyberscan, Sin- gapore). Thermotolerant coliforms of water samples were analyzed as a biological (mi- crobial) parameter that shows habitat pollu- tion with human sewage and feces based on MPN (Most Probable Number)/100 ml. Statistical analysis The means of physicochemical and micro- bial parameters of the water samples of the species were compared by Kruskal-Wallis test of nonparametric analysis and the relation of physicochemical and microbial parameters to abundance was assessed by Spearman Correla- tion analysis using SPSS software (Version 17 for windows, SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL). http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 68 Results In total, 371 mosquito larvae were peri- odically collected from nine localities in four districts of Qom Province during 2008–2009 and morphologically identified including 14 species representing four genera (Table 1). No larva was collected from the river of Qom City. All larvae were collected from natural habitats including ground pools, stream edges, riverbeds, and river edges (Fig. 2). The physi- cochemical and microbial parameters of water of different localities were showed in Table 2 and 3. Phosphate in Emamzadeh Esmail, turbidity, EC, TDS, total hardness, Chloride, and Nitrate in Qomrood, EC, TDS, Sulfate in Qom City, and Nitrite in Rahjerd were signif- icantly higher than other localities (P< 0.05), however temperature, pH, alkalinity, Calcium, and Fluoride did not show any significant dif- ference among different localities (P> 0.05) (Table 2). The physicochemical and microbial parameters did not show significant differences among different species (P> 0.05) (Table 4 and 5). There was no significant correlation between the abundance of larvae and the dif- ferent physicochemical and microbial pa- rameters (P> 0.05) (Table 6). Most of phys- icochemical and microbial parameters for An. claviger and An. marteri Senevet and Prunnelle and all culicine species were presented for the first time in Iran (Table 4 and 5). Table 1. The distribution and composition of the mosquito larvae in nine localities of Qom Province, Iran, Spring– Summer 2008–2009 Species Locality n % A gh olak A h m ad ab ad D astgerd D astjerd E m am zad eh E sm ail G h ah an G h al-e-ch am Q om rood R ah jerd An. claviger 66 135 - 1 - 16 10 - - 228 61.5 An. marteri - - - - - - - - 2 2 0.5 An. superpictus - - 12 - 20 - - - - 32 8.6 An. turkhudi - - 7 - - - - - - 7 1.9 Cx. arbieeni - - 1 - - - - - - 1 0.3 Cx. hortensis 3 2 1 - - 3 - - - 9 2.4 Cx. mimeticus - - 9 - 1 1 - - - 11 3.0 Cx. modestus - - - - - - - 6 - 6 1.6 Cx. pipiens - - - - - - - 13 - 13 3.5 Cx. territans 7 3 - - - - - - - 10 2.7 Cx. theileri - 1 - - 4 - - 1 - 6 1.6 Cs. longiareolata - 34 - - - 5 - - 2 41 11.1 Cs. subochrea 1 - - - - - - 1 - 2 0.5 Oc. caspius s.l. - - - - - - - 3 - 3 0.8 Total 77 175 30 1 25 25 10 24 4 371 100 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 69 Fig. 1. Map of Iran in which the position of Qom Province and its five districts is highlighted, 1. Jafarabad, 2. Kahak, 3. Khalajestan, 4. Markazi, and 5. Salafchegan (*Qom City) Fig. 2. Different types of larval habitats in Qom Province, Iran, Spring–Summer 2008–2009, a, b, and c) Ground pools, d) Stream edge, e) River bed, f) River edge (Original photos) a b a c d e f http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 70 Table 2. The physicochemical parameters of water in Qom Province, Iran, Spring–Summer 2008–2009, *no larva was collected, a values in a row which are significantly different in habitats where include larvae (n=9) and b in all samples (n=10) (at P=0.05) Physicochemical pa- rameters Locality Mean±SD (Larval habi- tats, n=9) Mean±SD (Total, n=10) A gh olak A h m ad ab ad D astgerd D astjerd E m am zad eh E sm ail G h ah an G h al-e-ch am Q om rood Q om C ity* R ah jerd Temperature (°C) 20.4 17.5 21.8 17.5 22.0 20.4 22.7 22.7 15.3 20.4 20.60±1.98 20.07±2.51 Acidity (pH) 7.5 7.3 7.7 7.3 7.7 7.5 7.3 7.1 7.7 7.0 7.37±0.24 7.41±0.25 Turbidity (NTU) 1.0 0.1 0.3 0.1 1.9 1.0 0.2 6.0a 0.5 0.2 1.20±1.89 1.13±1.80 Electrical conduc- tivity (µS/cm) 2070 1827 1005 1827 815 2070 2240 4240a 8820b 392 1831.77±1110.74 2530.60±2445.44 Total dissolved solids (ppm) 1030 914 502 914 407 1030 1120 2120a 4380b 197 914.88±555.05 1261.40±1214.31 Alkalinity (mg/l) 300 540 230 540 250 300 530 410 300 210 367.77±138.90 361.00±132.70 Total hardness (mg/l) 799.6 428.4 238.0 428.4 266.5 799.6 534.7 1294.7a 875.8 180.8 552.30±357.58 584.65±352.31 Calcium (mg/l) 323.6 649.5 30.4 649.5 30.4 323.6 620.8 220.8 83.7 26.6 319.46±267.23 295.89±262.74 Chloride (mg/l) 154.9 364.8 229.9 364.8 129.9 154.9 389.8 1479.5a 329.8 24.9 365.93±435.91 362.32±411.14 Fluoride (mg/l) 0.96 1.05 0.28 1.05 0.41 0.96 0.95 0.75 1.23 0.17 0.731±0.349 0.781±0.365 Nitrite (mg/l) 0.003 0.008 0.001 0.008 0.006 0.003 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.012a 0.0054±0.0033 0.0053±0.0032 Nitrate (mg/l) 0.0 1.0 2.2 1.0 1.2 0.0 1.8 9.8a 0.4 0.0 1.88±3.07 1.74±2.93 Phosphate (mg/l) 0.43 0.39 1.53 0.39 2.74a 0.43 0.48 0.48 0.23 0.12 0.776±0.834 0.722±0.805 Sulfate (mg/l) 784 400 134 400 184 784 832 832 1445b 37 487.44±325.67 583.20±431.24 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 71 Table 3. The microbial parameter of water in Qom Province, Iran, Spring–Summer 2008–2009 (*no larva was col- lected, N= not determined) Microbial parameter Locality Mean ± S D (L arval h ab itats, n = 8) M ean ± S D (T otal, n = 9) A gh olak A h m ad ab ad D astgerd D astjerd E m am zad eh E sm ail G h ah an G h al-e-ch am Q om rood Q om C ity* R ah jerd Thermotalerant Coliforms (MPN/100ml) N 0 75 0 1 1 0 0 1 5 0 1 1 0 0 0 93 2 9 7 .87± 49 6 .3 6 2 6 4 .77± 47 4 .8 0 Table 4. The physicochemical parameters of habitat water of mosquito larvae in Qom Province, Iran, Spring–Sum- mer 2008–2009 Physico- chemical parameters (Mean±SD) Species (Number of occurrence) A n . claviger (5) A n . m arteri (1) A n . su perpictu s (2) A n . tu rkh u di (1) C x. arbieen i (1) C x. h orten sis (4) C x. m im eticu s (3) C x. m odestu s (1) C x. pipien s (1) C x. territan s (2) C x. th eileri (3) C s. lon giareolata (3) C s. su boch rea (2) O c. caspiu s s.l. (1) Temper- ature (°C) 19.7± 2.2 20.4 21.9± 0.1 21.8 21.8 20.0± 1.8 21.4± 8.8 22.7 22.7 18.9± 2.0 20.7± 2.8 19.4± 1.6 21.5± 1.6 22.7 Acidity (pH) 7.3± 0.1 7.0 7.7± 0.0 7.7 7.7 7.5± 0.1 7.6± 0.1 7.1 7.1 7.4± 0.1 7.3± 0.3 7.2± 0.2 7.3± 0.2 7.1 Turbidity (NTU) 0.4± 0.4 0.2 1.1± 1.1 0.3 0.3 0.6± 0.4 1.0± 0.8 6.0 6.0 0.5± 0.6 2.6± 3.0 0.4± 0.4 3.5± 3.5 6.0 Electrical conductivity (µS/cm) 2006. 8± 178.2 392 910.0 ± 134.3 1005 1005 1743. 0± 505.1 1296.6 ± 676.4 4240 4240 1948.5 ± 171.8 2294.0 ± 1759.6 1429. 6± 906.8 3155.0 ± 1534.4 4240 Total dis- solved sol- ids (ppm) 1001. 6± 88.0 197 454.5 ± 67.1 502 502 869.0 ± 259.7 335.6± 193.7 2120 2120 972.0± 82.0 1147.0 ± 879.9 713.6 ± 451.1 1575.0 ± 770.7 2120 Alkalinity (mg/l) 442.0 ± 129.6 210 240.0 ± 14.1 230 230 342.5 ± 135.7 260.0± 36.0 410 410 420.0± 169.7 400.0± 145.2 416.6 ± 120.1 355.0± 77.7 410 Total hard- ness (mg/l) 598.1 ± 188.9 180.8 252.2 ± 20.1 238.0 238.0 566.4 ± 280.2 434.7± 316.3 1294.7 1294.7 614.0± 262.4 663.2± 552.8 469.6 ± 311.4 1047.1 ± 350.0 1294.7 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 72 Physico- chemical parameters (Mean±SD) Species (Number of occurrence) A n . claviger (5) A n . m arteri (1) A n . su perpictu s (2) A n . tu rkh u di (1) C x. arbieen i (1) C x. h orten sis (4) C x. m im eticu s (3) C x. m odestu s (1) C x. pipien s (1) C x. territan s (2) C x. th eileri (3) C s. lon giareolata (3) C s. su boch rea (2) O c. caspiu s s.l. (1) Calcium (mg/l) 513.4± 173.6 26.6 30.4± 0.0 30.4 30.4 331.7 ± 259.9 128.1 ± 169.2 220.8 220.8 486.5 ± 230.4 300.2 ± 317.1 333.2 ± 311.5 272.2 ± 72.6 220.8 Chloride (mg/l) 285.8± 119.9 24.9 179.9 ± 70.7 229.9 229.9 226.1 ± 98.9 171.5 ± 52.0 1479.5 1479. 5 259.8 ± 148.4 658.0 ± 721.0 181.5 ± 171.5 817.2 ± 936.6 1479.5 Fluoride (mg/l) 0.99± 0.05 0.17 0.34± 0.09 0.28 0.28 0.81± 0.35 0.55± 0.36 0.75 0.75 1.00± 0.06 0.73± 0.32 0.72± 0.48 0.85± 0.14 0.75 Nitrite (mg/l) 0.005± 0.002 0.012 0.003 ± 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.003 ± 0.002 0.003 ± 0.002 0.004 0.004 0.005 ± 0.003 0.006 ± 0.002 0.007 ± 0.004 0.003 ± 0.000 0.004 Nitrate (mg/l) 0.7± 0.7 0.0 1.7± 0.7 2.2 2.2 0.8± 1.0 1.1± 1.1 9.8 9.8 0.5± 0.7 4.0± 5.0 0.3± 0.5 4.9± 6.9 9.8 Phosphate (mg/l) 0.42± 0.03 0.12 2.13± 0.85 1.53 1.53 0.69± 0.55 1.56± 1.15 0.48 0.48 0.41± 0.02 1.20± 1.33 0.31± 0.16 0.45± 0.03 0.48 Sulfate (mg/l) 640.0± 219.9 37 159.0 ± 35.3 134 134 525.5 ± 317.6 367.3 ± 361.7 832 832 592.0 ± 271.5 472.0 ± 329.9 407.0 ± 373.5 808.0 ± 33.9 832 Table 5. The microbial parameter of habitat water of mosquito larvae in Qom Province, Iran, Spring–Summer 2008–2009 Microbial parameter (Mean±SD and range) Species (Number of occurrence) A n . claviger (4) A n . m arteri (1) A n . su perpictu s (2) A n . tu rkh u di (1) C x. arbieen i (1) C x. h orten sis (3) C x. m im eticu s (3) C x. m odestu s (1) C x. pipien s (1) C x. territan s (1) C x. th eileri (3) C s. lon giareolata (3) C s. su boch rea (1) O c. caspiu s s.l. (1) Thermotalerant Coliforms (MPN/100ml) 3 .7 5 ± 7 .50 (0– 1 5) 9 3 5 8 7 .50 ± 72 4 .7 8 (7 5–1 1 00 ) 7 5 7 5 3 0 .0 0± 3 9.6 8 (0–7 5 ) 3 9 6 .66 ± 60 9 .8 4 (1 5–1 1 00 ) 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 7 3 3 .33 ± 63 5 .0 8 (0– 11 0 0) 3 6 .0 0± 4 9.9 2 (0–9 3 ) 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Table 4. Continued … http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 73 Table 6. Spearman Correlation coefficient between physicochemical and microbial parameters of habitat waters and larvae abundance in Qom Province, Iran, Spring–Summer 2008–2009, Sig. (2-tailed), n=9 (for Thermotalerant Coli- forms, n=8) (P> 0.05) Physicochemical and microbial parameters Abundance Temperature (°C) -0.137 0.725 Acidity (pH) 0.532 0.140 Turbidity (NTU) 0.174 0.655 Electrical conductivity (µS/cm) 0.030 0.940 Total dissolved solids (ppm) 0.030 0.940 Alkalinity (mg/l) -0.030 0.940 Total hardness (mg/l) 0.131 0.737 Calcium (mg/l) 0.076 0.845 Chloride (mg/l) -0.080 0.838 Fluoride (mg/l) 0.190 0.625 Nitrite (mg/l) -0.453 0.220 Nitrate (mg/l) -0.051 0.896 Phosphate (mg/l) 0.233 0.546 Sulfate (mg/l) -0.004 0.991 Thermotalerant Coliforms (MPN/100ml) 0.056 0.896 Discussion In the present study, 371 mosquito larvae representing 14 species in four genera were collected from Qom Province. All species ex- cept for An. claviger and An. superpictus were collected for the first time in the province (Saghafipour et al. 2012) (Table 1). Anopheles multicolor, recorded in Qom Province al- ready (Macan 1950), was not found in the present investigation. Some physicochemical parameters of water in Emamzadeh Esmail (Phosphate), Qom City (EC, TDS, and Sulfate), and Rahjerd (Nitrite) showed significant differences among locali- ties, however Qomrood included much more significantly different parameters (turbidity, EC, TDS, total hardness, Chloride, and Nitrate) (P< 0.05) (Table 2). It is noteworthy that no larva was found in the river of Qom City where three parameters (EC=8,820 µ S/cm, TDS=4,380 ppm, and Sulfate=1,445 mg/l) were significantly higher than those of other localities (P< 0.05) (Table 2). Some aforemen- tioned water parameters have a public health importance and are used as an indicator of drinking-water quality (WHO 2008). http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 74 Khamala (1971) found that sedimentary solids, suspended solids, dissolved organic matter, total nitrogen, and pH did not have significant correlation with the density of Mansonia africana (Theobald) and Ma. uniformis (Theobald) larvae in Kenya, while Sasikumar et al. (1986) showed that Na, K, and pH had significant correlation with the density of Ma. uniformis and Ma. annulifera (Theobald) larvae, however Ca, Mg, and rainfall showed no significant relation in In- dia. In Iran, Ghanbari et al. (2005) showed the significant correlation of seven physico- chemical factors including pH, total hard- ness, Nitrate, phosphate, EC, calcium, and sulfate with five species An. culicifacies s.l., An. stephensi, An. superpictus, An. turkhudi, An. multicolor. Though some of aforemen- tioned factors were found to be predictor species, none of them was predictor for all anopheline species. That might show biolog- ical differences of the species. Hanafi-Bojd et al. (2012) noted the temperature, pH, total hardness, EC, and dry residue of larval habi- tats in Bashagard where eight species An. culicifacies s.l., An. dthali, An. stephensi, An. superpictus, An. fluviatilis s.l., An. turkhudi, An. moghulensis Christophers, and An. apoci Marsh were collected, however they did not calculated any correlation. Both Ghanbari et al. (2005) and Hanafi-Bojd et al. (2012) men- tioned the figures of habitats in general and none of them provided the exact values (means) of physicochemical features for each species. Piyaratne et al. (2005) found a posi- tive correlation of An. culicifacies s.l. and An. varuna Iyengar abundances only to tempera- ture and Calcium, respectively. Surendran and Ramasamy (2005) observed a significant correlation of An. culicifacies species E abun- dance to dissolved oxygen. Abdel-Hamid et al. (2011) found that there is a positive cor- relation between larval density and temper- ature for total collected species including three more prevalent ones: Cx. antennatus (Becker), Cx. pipiens Linnaeus, and Cx. perexiguus Theobald and a negative correlation between density and pH for total collected species and for Cx. pipiens. However the correlation was positive for Cx. antennatus and Cx. perexiguus in El Gharbia Governorate, Egypt. Ibrahim et al. (2011) found that temperature, Amonia, and Nitrate are the best predictor for larval density in Qalyubiya Governorate, Egypt, where they collected nine species in which Cx. pipiens was the most prevalent (64.7%). However, no correlation was found between larval density, pH, and dissolved oxygen. Among the physicochemical parameters of the present investigation, the means of EC, TDS, and Phosphate of localities (1,831.77, 914.88, and 0.77, respectively) (Table 2) and species (Table 4) were remarkably higher than those of Surendran and Ramasamy (2005) (EC: 715.7), Piyaratne et al. (2005) (EC: 534.7 and 828.8, TDS: 265.3 and 407.7, Phosphate: 0.03 and 0.22), and Ghanbari et al. (2005) (EC: 256, Phosphate: 0.07). Other parameters seem to be in the range of other investiga- tions (Muirhead-Thomson 1951, Khamala 1971, Sasikumar et al. 1986, Clements 1992, Ghanbari et al. 2005, Piyaratne et al. 2005, Surendran and Ramasamy 2005, Abdel-Hamid et al. 2011, Ibrahim et al. 2011, Hanafi-Bojd et al. 2012). As it is obvious, some available data are contradictory and there is not enough infor- mation about physicochemical parameters of larval habitats for many mosquito species. In addition to the biological differences of dif- ferent species, the same species has a range of tolerance and sometimes show different correlation with physicochemical parameters. Thus, the present data is too basic for a gen- eral assessment and conclusion. The most important limitation of the pre- sent study is the limited numbers and occur- rences of different species because of the arid climate of Qom Province. This phenomenon caused that the distribution of some parame- ters were not normal (Table 2) and the occur- http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 27, 2015 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, March 2016, 10(1): 65–77 MR Abai et al.: Physicochemical Characteristics … 75 rences of the species ranged from only one to five (Tables 4 and 5). That is why Kruskal- Wallis test and Spearman Correlation coeffi- cient of nonparametric analysis were used to assess data. Though according to the present physicochemical and microbial parameters, there is no significant difference among dif- ferent species (Tables 4 and 5) and the pa- rameters did not show correlation with the abundance of larvae (Table 6), they may change with more sampling and using par- ametric analysis. Conclusion In the present investigation, the means of EC, TDS, and Phosphate of localities and species were remarkably higher than those of the previous studies. Other parameters seem to be in the range of other investigations. More samplings of habitat waters (with or without larvae for comparing) in different climates and topographical regions (to collect more diver- sified species) are recommended. Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Dr A Akbari, MH Babakhani, F Abedi-Astaneh, Qom Pro- vincial Health Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, for their kind col- laborations. The authors also thank Dr SM Omrani, Department of Medical Parasitol- ogy, School of Medicine, Shahrekord Uni- versity of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, and Shadi Azari-Hamidian for reviewing the man- uscript. This study was financially supported by the Institute of Public Health Research, Academic Pivot for Education and Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences: pro- ject No.: 241.83.77. This investigation also was financially supported by Qom Univer- sity of Medical Sciences. The authors de- clare that there is no conflict of interests. 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