Abstract1. Resource diversity can be an important determinant of individual and population performance in insects. Fallen parts of plants form the nutritive base for many aquatic systems, including mosquito habitats, but the effect of plant diversity on mosquito production is poorly understood.2. To determine the effects of diverse plant inputs on larval mosquitoes, experiments were conducted that examined how leaves of Vitis aestivalis, Quercus virginiana, Psychotria nervosa, and Nephrolepis exalta affected the container species Aedes triseriatus and Aedes albopictus.3. The hypothesis that leaf species have different effects on larval survival, growth, population performance, and oviposition choice of the two mosquito species was tested. The hypothesis that larval performance of A. albopictus responds additively to combinations of the four plant species was also tested.4. Larval survival and growth differed among the four leaf species, and oviposition preference differed among the two leaf species examined. Measurements of population performance demonstrated significant variation between leaf treatments. Larval outcomes for A. albopictus were significantly affected by leaf combination, and the hypothesis of additivity could be rejected.5. These results indicate that individual leaf species are important in determining the performance of container dwelling mosquitoes, which grow larger and survive better on mixed-species resource than expected based on an additive model of resource utilisation.

Interactions between invasive species can have important consequences for the speed and impact of biological invasions. Containers occupied by the invasive mosquito, Aedes albopictus Skuse, may be sensitive to invasive plants whose leaves fall into this larval habitat. To examine the potential for interactions between invasive leaf species and larval A. albopictus, we conducted a field survey of leaf material found with A. albopictus in containers in Palm Beach County, Florida and measured density dependent responses of A. albopictus larvae to two invasive and one native leaf species in laboratory experiments. We found increased diversity of leaf species, particularly invasive species, in areas further from the urbanized coast, and a significant positive association between the presence of Schinus terebinthifolious (Brazilian pepper) and the abundance of A. albopictus. In laboratory experiments, we determined that larval growth and survivorship were significantly affected by both larval density and leaf species which, in turn, resulted in higher population performance on the most abundant invasive species (Brazilian pepper) relative to the most abundant native species, Quercus virginiana (live oak). These results suggest invasive leaf species can alleviate density dependent reductions in population performance in A. albopictus, and may contribute to its invasion success and potential to spread infectious disease.

Abstract. 1. Immatures of the invasive container mosquito Aedes albopictus occur in water‐holding tanks and axils of ornamental bromeliads in Florida, where this species established and became abundant in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 2. The numbers of A. albopictus in bromeliads in gardens vary geographically in Florida, being significantly higher in northern sites where two species of Wyeomyia mosquitoes, native specialists of this microhabitat, are absent. 3. Causes of the negative relationship between abundances of A. albopictus and Wyeomyia spp. were investigated experimentally using Billbergia pyramidalis, an introduced bromeliad popular in Florida gardens. 4. Egg laying by A. albopictus in B. pyramidalis confined in a large outdoor cage was unaffected by the presence or absence of Wyeomyia spp. fourth instars, indicating that immatures of the native bromeliad mosquito species do not deter oviposition by the invasive species in this microhabitat. 5. Growth and survivorship of A. albopictus first instars in tanks of B. pyramidalis were negatively affected by the presence of fourth instar, but not first instar, Wyeomyia spp. larvae at natural densities. Stimulative effects of leaf litter on A. albopictus growth and survivorship in this microhabitat were independent of the presence or absence of Wyeomyia spp. immatures. 6. These results demonstrate that interspecific larval interactions regulate the production and explain the geographic patterns in abundance of A. albopictus from ornamental bromeliads in Florida.