Data from: A scoping review of mosquito vector range shifts: widespread expansions and evidence gaps in climate attribution
Data files
Sep 30, 2025 version files 153.02 KB
-
Article_citations.csv
52.81 KB
-
Mosquito_range_review_code.R
9.53 KB
-
README.md
3.74 KB
-
review_mosquito_data.csv
86.94 KB
Abstract
As global temperatures rise, concerns about shifting mosquito ranges—and accompanying changes in the transmission of malaria, dengue, and other diseases—are mounting. However, systematic evidence for climate-driven changes in mosquito ranges remains limited. We conducted a scoping review following PRISMA-ScR guidelines of studies documenting expansions or contractions in medically important mosquito species. In total, 178 studies on six continents identified range expansions in 118 mosquito species. While over a third of these studies cited warming as a driver, fewer than 10% performed statistical tests of the role of climate. Instead, most expansions were linked to human-aided dispersal (e.g., trade, travel), land-use changes, and urbanization. Although several studies reported poleward or upward expansions consistent with climate warming, none demonstrated warm-edge contractions driven by rising temperatures, which are theoretically predicted in some settings. Rather than expanding into newly suitable areas, many expansions appear to be filling preexisting thermally suitable habitats. Our findings highlight the need for long-term mosquito monitoring, rigorous climate-attribution methods, and better documentation of confounding factors like land-use change and vector control efforts to disentangle climate-driven changes from other anthropogenic factors.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k3j9kd5ng
Description of the data and file structure
We conducted a scoping review of studies related to changes in mosquito ranges. Exact search string and criteria can be found in the paper methods. Reviewers extracted the following information from the studies that met the inclusion criteria (n = 178): species name(s); study geographic location(s), with latitude and longitude points if available; study date(s); reference period date(s); vector collection methods; whether the study reports a range expansion, contraction, or both; distance or velocity of range movement; a narrative summary of the asserted causes of the range shift; a summary of the evidence used in attributing the causes. The reference period is defined as the historical period to which the species range is being compared, if stated.
Files and variables
File: Mosquito_range_review_code.R
Description: R code used to create figures summarizing the data, including a pie chart of genera covered in the studies, histogram of study years, and map of study locations.
File: Article_citations.csv
Description: Full citations for the articles included in the scoping review.
Variables
- Full Article Citations: APA style citation of the article.
File: review_mosquito_data.csv
Description: Date from the 178 studies included in the scoping review.
Variables
-
Covidence: ID number generated by the software Covidence.
-
Study_ID: Author and publication year
-
Pub_Year: Publication year
-
Title: Study title
-
Study_species: One or more species included in the study
-
Type_of_study: Whether the study was a comparison historical/current records, repeated sampling, or other.
-
Study_location: Description of the study location, usually a city or country.
-
Coordinates_given: Whether the study provided any coordinates, and if so was it one or multiple.
-
Coord_set: Verbatim coordinates given in the study.
-
Latitude: Coordinates translated to degrees latitude.
-
Longitude: Coordinates translated to degrees longitude.
-
Study_dates_MM/DD/YYYY: The full range of study dates in the format MM/DD/YYYY
-
Study_start: First year of data included in the study.
-
Study_end: Final year of data included in the study.
-
Historical_ dates: Range of historical dates used for comparison to current sampling.
-
Historical_start: First year of historical data included in the study.
-
Historical_end: Final year of historical data included in the study.
-
Methods: Whether active or passive surveillance was used in the study.
-
Range_shift: Whether a range expansion, contraction, or both were reported in the study.
-
Distance: A descriptive measure of how fast the range was shifting.
-
Warming_attribution: Whether climate attribution was hypothesized, shown with accompanying statistical analysis, or not discussed.
-
Other_causes: Any alternative hypotheses discussed in the study as reasons for the range shift.
-
Other_evidence: Evidence provided for these alternative hypotheses.
-
Other_notes: A description of any other noteworthy feature or finding in the study.
NA values in this csv mean that there was no data applicable for that entry.
Code/software
Code uses R version 4.1.1 and the packages tidyr, dplyr, ggplot2, and maps.
The single R file when run will load in the csv and perform analyses. Plots will be saved in the users working directory.
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- none
Data was derived from the following sources:
- none