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theses

Successful and sustainable mosquito control is not possible without knowledge of the species’ biology. We must understand the factors affecting mosquito fitness before we can hope to reduce it. Sugar-feeding behavior was once neglected in the literature, but has now emerged as a significant influence on mosquito fitness. I chose to investigate multiple aspects of sugar-feeding behavior in the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus. This mosquito is of increasing concern due to its aggressive invasive nature and vector status. In Chapter 1, I examine the effect of diapause cues on female dietary choices. Diapause cues affected female food choice, particularly the initial choice. Long-day females were three times more likely to choose blood at their first feeding opportunity. The frequency of sugar meals was also altered by treatment with short-day females exhibiting a 33% increase. These findings may be beneficial to mosquito control efforts, particularly those based upon sugar attractants. In Chapter 2, I investigate the importance of sugar availability for adult male mating success. Males provisioned with sugar for long periods after eclosion experience greater longevity, greater sperm transfer, and mated with more females over their lifetime. Therefore, I suggest that sterile male release initiatives might consider provisioning adult males for multiple days before release. In Chapter 3, I explore the effect of the adult male diet on their offspring. While there was no change in the fecundity of the male parent, there was a significant change in offspring development time and size. In both sexes pupation time and eclosion time were significantly longer in offspring of starved males. Unexpectedly, female offspring of starved males had longer wing lengths than those fathered by males with access to sucrose. I developed a mathematical model to examine whether the paternal effect I observed might increase offspring fitness under certain conditions. The model demonstrated that offspring benefit from paternal signals when they experience poor sugar resources as adults. This highlights the existence of environmentally mediated paternal effects in mosquitoes, and more broadly in insects, suggesting that male environment needs to be taken into account when control measures seek to alter environmental conditions.

ETD_6322

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Alexandra Stephanie Villiard

doi:10.7282/T3C53NQN

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.