Forest fragmentation, anthropogenic land use, and climate shape sand fly community composition in central Panama.
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Abstract
Background: American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is endemic in central Panama, where rapid land use change is transforming tropical landscapes and potentially altering the ecology of sand fly vectors. Although researchers have widely studied environmental determinants of individual vector species, community-level responses of sand fly assemblages to landscape modification remain poorly understood. We evaluated how landscape composition, fragmentation, climate, and topography influence sand fly community structure in a rural landscape of central Panama. Methodology/Principal Findings: We combined metacommunity analyses with joint species distribution models (JSDMs) to quantify species-specific and community-level responses to climatic variables, land-cover composition, and forest configuration. We collected 1,692 individuals representing 30 species, including nine anthropportunist taxa of epidemiological importance. Sand fly assemblages had strong nestedness, low species turnover, and predominantly positive residual associations. Several anthropportunist sand fly species occurred across heterogeneous landscapes, although their responses to environmental conditions differed among taxa. Land-cover composition, forest fragmentation metrics, and elevation together explained about half of the variance in species occurrence and abundance, with the remainder attributed to climate and spatial, temporal, and community-level random effects. Grassland cover contributed most strongly to sand fly occurrence and abundance, whereas artificial surfaces consistently reduced both metrics. Fragmentation effects varied by species: edge density often increased occurrence and abundance, whereas more forest patches generally suppressed populations. Increased precipitation broadly enhanced occurrence and abundance, whereas higher temperatures negatively affected several taxa. Conclusions/significance: Landscape heterogeneity predictably structures sand fly communities, and different forms of anthropogenic disturbance exert non-uniform effects on vector assemblages. The nested organization of these assemblages and the co-occurrence of several anthropophilic species suggest that multiple potential vector species may be present across heterogeneous landscapes. These findings highlight the need for landscape-informed surveillance and control strategies that prioritize grassland–forest interfaces and other disturbed ecotones where sand fly species of epidemiological importance frequently co-occur.
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This Zenodo record is a permanently preserved version of a PREreview. You can view the complete PREreview at https://prereview.org/reviews/23854025.
This preprint presents a comprehensive metacommunity analysis evaluating how landscape composition, forest fragmentation metrics, topography, and climate influence sand fly vector assemblages in central Panama. Utilizing Joint Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) on a dataset of 1,692 individuals across 30 species (including 9 epidemiologically important anthropportunist taxa), the authors demonstrate that sand fly communities exhibit strong nestedness, low species turnover, and species-specific responses to environmental modifications. Notably, grassland cover and forest edge density strongly enhanced vector occurrence and abundance, whereas artificial surfaces and elevated temperatures …
This Zenodo record is a permanently preserved version of a PREreview. You can view the complete PREreview at https://prereview.org/reviews/23854025.
This preprint presents a comprehensive metacommunity analysis evaluating how landscape composition, forest fragmentation metrics, topography, and climate influence sand fly vector assemblages in central Panama. Utilizing Joint Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) on a dataset of 1,692 individuals across 30 species (including 9 epidemiologically important anthropportunist taxa), the authors demonstrate that sand fly communities exhibit strong nestedness, low species turnover, and species-specific responses to environmental modifications. Notably, grassland cover and forest edge density strongly enhanced vector occurrence and abundance, whereas artificial surfaces and elevated temperatures had negative effects on several taxa. This work significantly advances the field by moving beyond single-species distribution models to a community-level framework, offering actionable insights for landscape-informed vector control and surveillance at disturbed ecotones.
Major issues
Sampling Completeness & Effort: With 1,692 individuals collected across 30 species, it would be beneficial to report species accumulation curves or sample-coverage estimators (e.g., Chao1 or coverage-based rarefaction). This would clarify whether sampling saturation was achieved across all habitat types and ensure low-abundance vector taxa were not underrepresented.
Spatial Resolution of Landscape Metrics :The abstract highlights land-cover composition and fragmentation metrics as key explanatory variables. However, the spatial buffer radii (e.g., 50m, 100m, 500m) used to quantify these metrics around sampling traps should be explicitly detailed, along with a discussion of how these spatial scales align with known sand fly dispersal distances.
Microclimatic Buffering at Edges: While macroclimatic variables (temperature and precipitation) are evaluated, edge habitats often exhibit distinct microclimatic variations in relative humidity and canopy closure. A deeper discussion on how microclimates might mediate temperature sensitivity in fragmented edge zones would strengthen the ecological conclusions.
Minor issues
Terminological Consistency: Clearly define the ecological distinction between "anthropportunist" and "anthropophilic" species early in the manuscript to ensure consistent usage throughout the text.
Data Visualization: Suggest adding correlation matrices or heatmaps in the main figures to illustrate species-specific JSDM regression coefficients and residual species-species association networks
Surveillance Translation: Expand briefly on practical, field-ready recommendations for public health authorities to implement "landscape-informed surveillance" at grassland-forest interfaces
Competing interests
The author declares that they have no competing interests.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The author declares that they used generative AI to come up with new ideas for their review.
I used AI (Gemini) to help structure the review, synthesize key critical points based on the preprint details, and refine the clarity and formatting of the feedback.
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This Zenodo record is a permanently preserved version of a PREreview. You can view the complete PREreview at https://prereview.org/reviews/23854120.
This preprint presents a comprehensive metacommunity analysis evaluating how landscape composition, forest fragmentation metrics, topography, and climate influence sand fly vector assemblages in central Panama. Utilizing Joint Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) on a dataset of 1,692 individuals across 30 species (including 9 epidemiologically important anthropportunist taxa), the authors demonstrate that sand fly communities exhibit strong nestedness, low species turnover, and species-specific responses to environmental modifications. Notably, grassland cover and forest edge density strongly enhanced vector occurrence and abundance, whereas artificial surfaces and elevated temperatures …
This Zenodo record is a permanently preserved version of a PREreview. You can view the complete PREreview at https://prereview.org/reviews/23854120.
This preprint presents a comprehensive metacommunity analysis evaluating how landscape composition, forest fragmentation metrics, topography, and climate influence sand fly vector assemblages in central Panama. Utilizing Joint Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) on a dataset of 1,692 individuals across 30 species (including 9 epidemiologically important anthropportunist taxa), the authors demonstrate that sand fly communities exhibit strong nestedness, low species turnover, and species-specific responses to environmental modifications. Notably, grassland cover and forest edge density strongly enhanced vector occurrence and abundance, whereas artificial surfaces and elevated temperatures had negative effects on several taxa. This work significantly advances the field by moving beyond single-species distribution models to a community-level framework, offering actionable insights for landscape-informed vector control and surveillance at disturbed ecotones.
Major issues
Sampling Completeness & Effort: With 1,692 individuals collected across 30 species, it would be beneficial to report species accumulation curves or sample-coverage estimators (e.g., Chao1 or coverage-based rarefaction). This would clarify whether sampling saturation was achieved across all habitat types and ensure low-abundance vector taxa were not underrepresented
Spatial Resolution of Landscape Metrics: The abstract highlights land-cover composition and fragmentation metrics as key explanatory variables. However, the spatial buffer radii (e.g., 50m, 100m, 500m) used to quantify these metrics around sampling traps should be explicitly detailed, along with a discussion of how these spatial scales align with known sand fly dispersal distances.
Microclimatic Buffering at Edges: While macroclimatic variables (temperature and precipitation) are evaluated, edge habitats often exhibit distinct microclimatic variations in relative humidity and canopy closure. A deeper discussion on how microclimates might mediate temperature sensitivity in fragmented edge zones would strengthen the ecological conclusions.
Minor issues
Terminological Consistency: Clearly define the ecological distinction between "anthropportunist" and "anthropophilic" species early in the manuscript to ensure consistent usage throughout the text.
Data Visualization: Suggest adding correlation matrices or heatmaps in the main figures to illustrate species-specific JSDM regression coefficients and residual species-species association networks.
Surveillance Translation: Expand briefly on practical, field-ready recommendations for public health authorities to implement "landscape-informed surveillance" at grassland-forest interfaces.
Competing interests
The author declares that they have no competing interests.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The author declares that they used generative AI to come up with new ideas for their review.
I used AI (Gemini) to help structure the review, synthesize key critical points based on the preprint details, and refine the clarity and formatting of the feedback.
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