Mosquito and aquatic predator communities in ground pools on lands deforested for rice field development in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Aquatic habitats, mosquitoes, and larvivorous predators were: studied on de forested lands in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Open ground pools, mainly in depressions made by the trends of bulldozers and other heavy equipment, we re numerous but because of their small size, comprised ca. 1% or less of th e total area of the deforested lands studied. The dominant mosquitoes in th ese pools were Anopheles vagus, Culex vishnui, Culex tritaeniorhynchus, and Culex gelidus. The Ist 2 species were dominant in clear pools, whereas the latter 2 species were dominant in turbid pools. The dominant metazoans oth er than mosquitoes were Crustacea, Ephemeroptera, and Chironomidae. Both aq uatic and surface predators were abundant. Dominant among aquatic predators were Anisoptera and Zygoptera nymphs, Dytiscidae, and Notonectidae. These results are discussed in relation to mosquito control on deforested lands t hat transitionally but inevitably appear during the course of rice field de velopment projects in Indonesia.