Both consumptive and non-consumptive effects of predators impact mosquito populations

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Both consumptive and non-consumptive effects of predators impact mosquito populations and have implications for disease transmission

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Quote:

FROM: https://www.space.com/17688-voyager-1.html Disease predictions can be improved by factoring in mosquito predators by Hayley Dunning, Imperial College London (2022-01-20) The way mosquitoes react to predators should be included in disease models, say researchers behind a new study. They say the information can improve predictions of when and where there might be high numbers of human infections of mosquito-borne diseases. The research is led by Imperial College London and Pennsylvania State University scientists and published today in eLife. The study shows how the presence of different predators can cause significant changes for mosquitoes' bodies and behaviors, which alter the likelihood of them passing on diseases to humans, including malaria, West Nile virus and dengue. For example, exposure to predators can cause a reduction in the average mosquito body size, leading to shorter lifespans and fewer offspring per mosquito, ultimately reducing the spread of disease. (SNIP)

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Original Paper:

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Quote:

FROM: https://elifesciences.org/articles/71503 Both consumptive and non-consumptive effects of predators impact mosquito populations and have implications for disease transmission Marie C Russell Is a corresponding author, Catherine M Herzog, Zachary Gajewski, Chloe Ramsay, Fadoua El Moustaid, Michelle V Evans, Trishna Desai, Nicole L Gottdenker, Sara L Hermann, Alison G Power, Andrew C McCall (2022-01-19) Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, United Kingdom; Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, United States; Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, United States; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, United States; Odum School of Ecology & Center for Ecology of Infectious Diseases, University of Georgia, United States; MIVEGEC, IRD, CNRS, Université Montpellier, France; Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, United States; Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University, United States; Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, United States; Biology Department, Denison University, United States Cite as: eLife 2022;11:e71503 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.71503 Predator-prey interactions influence prey traits through both consumptive and non-consumptive effects, and variation in these traits can shape vector-borne disease dynamics. Meta-analysis methods were employed to generate predation effect sizes by different categories of predators and mosquito prey. This analysis showed that multiple families of aquatic predators are effective in consumptively reducing mosquito survival, and that the survival of Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex mosquitoes is negatively impacted by consumptive effects of predators. Mosquito larval size was found to play a more important role in explaining the heterogeneity of consumptive effects from predators than mosquito genus. Mosquito survival and body size were reduced by non-consumptive effects of predators, but development time was not significantly impacted. In addition, Culex vectors demonstrated predator avoidance behavior during oviposition. The results of this meta-analysis suggest that predators limit disease transmission by reducing both vector survival and vector size, and that associations between drought and human West Nile virus cases could be driven by the vector behavior of predator avoidance during oviposition. These findings are likely to be useful to infectious disease modelers who rely on vector traits as predictors of transmission... (SNIP)

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