LUMEN – Hei-Planet

Research Project

LUMEN, Adapting to the Light: Mosquito Behaviour, Human Exposure and Vector Control in a Changing Climate

Mosquito-borne diseases are becoming endemic to Europe and are driven by environmental and climate changes. Mosquito habitats and transmission dynamics are expected to be dramatically influenced by rising temperatures, urbanisation and artificial light at night (ALAN). While temperature has long been recognised as a key factor shaping mosquito biology, ALAN is emerging as an overlooked stressor that may delay diapause, increase mosquito activity and biting, and potentially disrupt the overwintering dynamics of West Nile virus (WNV). These effects further intersect with the urban heat island phenomenon and extend to human exposure behaviours, which remain poorly understood. The resulting complexity highlights the need for integrated, One Health approaches that combine entomology, climate science, and behavioural research to anticipate transmission risks and inform more effective prevention strategies. LUMEN, Adapting to the Light: Mosquito Behaviour, Human Exposure and Vector Control in a Changing Climate is a project designed to investigate these interconnected challenges.

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The project is divided into multiple subprojects among which researchers at Heidelberg University lead subproject 4 titled “Model-based mosquito-borne disease risk indicators capturing artificial and natural light-climate interactions”

Synthesise model parameters from the scientific literature on thermal and light biology for Aedes spp. and Culex spp., and identify data gaps in experimental data
Integrate new complementary data from experiments and field observations from project partners generated in other sub-projects and establish a new generation of light-sensitive Culex mosquito-borne disease models
Predict impacts from interactions of the light cycle, climate, and ALAN on mosquitoes and mosquito-borne disease indicators and validate with field data from Berlin and Hamburg. Additionally, study the impact of the validated model indicators by extrapolation to Germany and by testing the sensitivity of this new configuration of models to scenarios of climate change.
Integration of prediction models into an online platform with online climate and light data to communicate the model findings and sensitivities to various stakeholders.

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The project is organised into complementary subprojects, bringing together discipline-specific expertise to develop practical, real-world solutions to emerging disease risks. The network aims to deliver empirically validated behavioural tools, open-source digital resources, and a flexible modelling framework that links environmental change to mosquito-borne disease risk across space and time.

These outputs are designed to be reused, scaled, and updated as environmental conditions change. Documented data pipelines, online risk maps, and citizen science datasets will provide lasting resources to support One Health Platform’s (OHP) infrastructure. By connecting research with practice and science with public engagement, the project will strengthen OHP’s capacity for integrated surveillance, evidence-based decision-making, and prevention.

Project Collaborators

Subprojects

There are four subprojects within the LUMEN project:

SP1: Investigates how ALAN and temperature influence Cx. pipiens biology at the molecular level, including diapause regulation, immune function, and West Nile virus (WNV) transmission potential, through controlled experiments and field validation.

SP2: Complements this by examining how larval habitat conditions-such as temperature, light exposure, water quality, and microbiome composition-shape mosquito development and fitness in urbanising environments.

SP3:Focuses on human behaviour, developing a validated knowledge, attitudes, and practices instrument with the support of the experts from the other subprojects and an ecological momentary assessment tool for real-time behavioural tracking via a citizen science framework.

SP4: Integrates these data streams, namely mosquito physiology, habitat ecology, and human behaviour, into a predictive modelling framework that generates spatiotemporal risk maps and scenario-based forecasts.

Figure: Adapting to the Light Network. Graphical summary of this transdisciplinary network bringing together researchers and institutions from the fields of ecology, molecular and infection biology, social sciences, and mathematics, with 4 sub-projects that all interact with each other.