Improved spatial ecological sampling using open data and standardization: an example from malaria mosquito surveillance
Vector-borne disease control relies on efficient vector surveillance, mostly carried out using traps whose number and locations are often determined by expert opinion rather than a rigorous quantitative sampling design. In this work we first propose a framework for ecological sampling design which in its preliminary stages can take into account environmental conditions obtained from open data (i.e. remote sensing and meteorological stations). These environmental data are used to delimit the area into ecologically homogenous strata. By employing a model-based sampling design, the traps are deployed among the strata using a mixture of random and grid locations which allows balancing predictions and fitting accuracies. Sample sizes and the effect of ecological strata on sample sizes are estimated from previous sampling campaigns. Notably, we found that a configuration of 30 locations with 4 households each (120 traps) will have a similar accuracy in the estimates of mosquito abundance as 300 random samples. In addition, we show that random sampling independently from ecological strata, produces biased estimates of the mosquito abundance. Finally, we propose standardizing reporting of sampling designs to allow transparency and repetition / re-use in subsequent sampling campaigns.