Effects of scarcity and excess of larval food on life history traits of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

Few studies have assessed the effects of food scarcity or excess on the life history traits of Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) independently from larval density. We assessed immature survival, development time, and adult size in relation to food availability. We reared cohorts of 30 Ae. aegypti larvae from newly hatched to adult emergence with different food availability. Food conditions were kept constant by transferring larvae each day to a new food solution. Immature development was completed by some individuals in all treatments. The shortest development time, the largest adults, and the highest survival were observed at intermediate food levels. The most important effects of food scarcity were an extension in development time, a decrease in the size of adults, and a slight decrease in survival, while the most important effects of food excess were an important decrease in survival and a slight decrease in the size of adults. The variability in development time and adult size within sex and treatment increased at decreasing food availability. The results suggest that although the studied population has adapted to a wide range of food availabilities, both scarcity and excess of food have important negative impacts on fitness.

Comparison of Two Detailed Models of Aedes aegypti Population Dynamics

The success of control programs for mosquito borne diseases can be enhanced by crucial information provided by models of the mosquito populations. Models, however, can differ in their structure, complexity and biological assumptions, and these differences impact their predictions. Unfortunately, it is typically difficult to determine why two complex models make different predictions because we lack structured side-by-side comparisons of models using comparable parameterization. Here we present a detailed comparison of two complex, spatially-explicit, stochastic models of the population dynamics of Aedes aegypti, the main vector of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika viruses. Both models describe the mosquito's biological and ecological characteristics, but differ in complexity and specific assumptions. We compare the predictions of these models in two selected climatic settings, a tropical and weakly seasonal climate in Iquitos, Peru, and a temperate and strongly seasonal climate in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Both models were calibrated to operate at identical average densities in unperturbed conditions in both settings, by adjusting parameters regulating densities in each model (number of larval development sites and amount of nutritional resources). We show that the models differ in their sensitivity to environmental conditions (temperature and rainfall), and trace differences to specific model assumptions. Temporal dynamics of the Ae. aegypti populations predicted by the two models differ more markedly under strongly seasonal Buenos Aires conditions. We use both models to simulate killing of larvae and/or adults with insecticides in selected areas. We show that predictions of population recovery by the models differ substantially, an effect likely related to model assumptions regarding larval development and (direct or delayed) density dependence. Our methodical comparison provides important guidance for model improvement by identifying key areas of Ae. aegypti ecology that substantially affect model predictions, and revealing the impact of model assumptions on population dynamics predictions in unperturbed and perturbed conditions.