Zulfadli Mahfodz, Agus Naba, Pradeep Isawasan, Mohd Azuraidi Osman, Nazri Che Dom
Persistent dengue transmission in tropical cities reflects a complex interplay between environmental microclimates and urban housing structure that supports Aedes mosquito breeding. This study applies drone-based microhabitat risk mapping integrated with a biologically defined Composite Risk Index (CRI) to quantify fine-scale environmental drivers of Aedes habitat risk across distinct residential typologies in Sect. 24, Shah Alam, Malaysia. High-resolution RGB imagery obtained using a DJI Phantom 4 Pro was processed to derive the Brightness Index (BI) as a proxy for shade intensity and the Excess Green Index (ExG) as an indicator of vegetation density. These indices were integrated a priori into a CRI to operationalise known ecological conditions favourable for Aedes. Spatial analysis revealed a consistent risk gradient, with terrace housing exhibiting higher Composite Risk Index (CRI) values than flat complexes (low-density terrace (Teres D) > dense terrace (Teres B) > medium-rise (Flat H) > high-rise (Flat B)), demonstrating that housing typology modulates the spatial expression of microhabitat risk rather than vegetation presence alone. Model calibration showed high predictive agreement (R² = 0.91), with the top 20% of CRI-ranked pixels capturing 65% of observed breeding-prone zones, indicating strong spatial discriminative performance. These findings highlight that vegetation–shade coupling, expressed through housing morphology, governs Aedes habitat persistence and that drone-based microclimate mapping provides a precision surveillance tool for spatially targeted dengue control. © The Author(s) 2026.
Centre of Environmental Health & Safety, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), UITM Selangor, Selangor, Puncak Alam, 42300, Malaysia; Department of Physics, University of Brawijaya, Veteren Street, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), 40450, Selangor, Shah Alam, Malaysia; Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Perak Branch, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Tapah Campus, Perak, 35400, Malaysia; Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology & Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Serdang, 43400, Malaysia; Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, UITM Selangor, Selangor, Puncak Alam, 42300, Malaysia
