British Container Breeding Mosquitoes: The Impact of Urbanisation and Climate Change on Community Composition and Phenology

Townroe, Susannah; Callaghan, Amanda

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095325

Cited by 95 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…Downstream outcomes of entry rules, such as phenological shifts (e.g. Townroe & Callaghan ), may be complicated by interactions among simultaneous environmental change drivers (such as climate change). They may also be complicated by dispersal from rural sources to urban sinks in mobile groups such as insects (Altermatt ), but perhaps not in less mobile ones such as plants (e.g.…”

Section: Entry and Exit Rules: The Urbanization Filtermentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal physiology and urbanization: perspectives on exit, entry and transformation rules

Chown

Duffy

2015

Functional Ecology

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Summary1. More than 50% of the global human population lives in urban settings, which, for urban agglomerations with >1 million inhabitants, span a 30°C range in mean annual temperature and 4000 mm annual precipitation range. 2. Although the biodiversity impacts of urbanization are most commonly investigated at the assemblage level, these impacts are mediated through organismal physiology and behaviour. 3. At the individual level, mechanistic models, which provide an explicit means to understand how organisms meet the requirements of heat, water and nutrient balance, offer a useful way to assess physiological and behavioural responses to urban environments and their consequences for population dynamics. 4. Physiological determinants of assemblage variation can usefully be investigated by examining entry, exit and transformation rules. These are biases in the processes that determine which individuals join or leave a population or assemblage, and processes that act on individuals, which remain part thereof. 5. Direct evidence for physiological adaptation (broadly construed as phenotypic plasticity, genotypic change or some interaction between them) to urban environments is remarkably limited, owing largely to low numbers of investigations, given that most studies that have been conducted reveal some form of adaptation. 6. A warming tolerance approach, applied to insects globally, demonstrates that transposing sampled populations to the nearest urban area reduces warming tolerance by several degrees, though this effect is on average more marked for the Southern than the Northern Hemisphere. The lowest warming tolerance is found between 30 and 35°N or S, suggesting that in the absence of mitigation, the urban heat island effect of cities here will have the most pronounced impacts on insect populations. 7. Physiological approaches offer a useful means for understanding the urban-rural gradient across a wide range of climatically variable settings during a period of background environmental change.

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Section: Entry and Exit Rules: The Urbanization Filtermentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal physiology and urbanization: perspectives on exit, entry and transformation rules

Chown

Duffy

2015

Functional Ecology

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“…Mosquitoes are vectors of deadly human diseases such as malaria, dengue, Zika and yellow fever, especially in the tropics, with more than one billion people infected and over 700 000 people dying from vector‐borne diseases annually . Mosquitoes successfully colonise a vast range of natural and artificial aquatic systems, including in urban areas where there is a high potential for encounters with humans . In particular, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, 1823 (Diptera: Culicidae) is a member of Culex pipiens complex and is a competent vector of brancroftian filariasis, West Nile virus, Sandbis virus, St Louis encephalitis, Rift Valley fever virus and lymphatic filariasis (see Mandal et al , Turell and Manimegalai and Sukanya).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water depth‐dependent notonectid predatory impacts across larval mosquito ontogeny

Dalal

Cuthbert

Dick

et al. 2019

Pest Management Science

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BACKGROUND Context‐dependencies can modulate the strength of predatory interactions and often remain unquantified. In particular, differences in water depth within aquatic systems could influence predator efficiencies towards prey which utilise three‐dimensional space through the water column. Differences in prey size could drive prey size–refuge effects, influencing the efficacy of natural enemies towards vector species. We thus quantify the predatory impact of two notonectid predators, Anisops breddini and Anisops sardeus, towards four different larval instars of Culex quinquefasciatus prey across a water depth gradient, using functional responses (FRs). RESULTS Consumption rates differed significantly between the predators, and interspecific differences in responses to variations in water depth were emergent. Both notonectids were able to handle C. quinquefasciatus prey across all instar stages, yet predation rates were generally higher towards early as opposed to late instar prey. Anisops sardeus was most voracious, and differential predation rates of this species were most pronounced in shallow waters. Type II FRs were displayed by notonectids in the majority of treatments; however, Type III FRs were emergent in specific treatment groups, with potential implications for prey population stability. Both capture rates and handling times were often greater at greater depths, and thus maximum feeding rates reduced as depth increased. Our results further demonstrate substantial predatory impacts of notonectid predators towards mosquito, and quantify biotic and abiotic context‐dependencies which modulate their impact. CONCLUSION Given notonectids are capable of aerial dispersal between ephemeral aquatic habitats of varied volumes, their promotion in aquatic systems could help reduce proliferations of medically important mosquitoes. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

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“…Specimens are collected over extended (> 1 day) time periods, and therefore it is not possible to use these data to determine the biting rate of mosquitoes on humans at that location. Addressing this knowledge gap with field-based studies is vital to increase our understanding of current mosquito biting behaviour, and will allow future comparison with behavioural changes that could result from climate change [12], anthropogenic changes to the environment [32] or the establishment of an exotic species, such as Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1895), in the UK [33]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How often do mosquitoes bite humans in southern England? A standardised summer trial at four sites reveals spatial, temporal and site-related variation in biting rates

et al. 2017

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BackgroundThis field-based study examined the abundance and species complement of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) attracted to humans at four sites in the United Kingdom (UK). The study used a systematic approach to directly measure feeding by mosquitoes on humans at multiple sites and using multiple volunteers. Quantifying how frequently humans are bitten in the field by mosquitoes is a fundamental parameter in assessing arthropod-borne virus transmission.MethodsHuman landing catches were conducted using a standardised protocol by multiple volunteers at four rural sites between July and August 2013. Collections commenced two hours prior to sunset and lasted for a total of four hours. To reduce bias occurring due to collection point or to the individual attractiveness of the volunteer to mosquitoes, each collection was divided into eight collection periods, with volunteers rotated by randomised Latin square design between four sampling points per site. While the aim was to collect mosquitoes prior to feeding, the source of blood meals from any engorged specimens was also identified by DNA barcoding.ResultsThree of the four sites yielded human-biting mosquito populations for a total of 915 mosquitoes of fifteen species/species groups. Mosquito species composition and biting rates differed significantly between sites, with individual volunteers collecting between 0 and 89 mosquitoes (over 200 per hour) of up to six species per collection period. Coquillettidia richiardii (Ficalbi, 1889) was responsible for the highest recorded biting rates at any one site, reaching 161 bites per hour, whilst maximum biting rates of 55 bites per hour were recorded for Culex modestus (Ficalbi, 1889). Human-biting by Culex pipiens (L., 1758) form pipiens was also observed at two sites, but at much lower rates when compared to other species.ConclusionsSeveral mosquito species are responsible for human nuisance biting pressure in southern England, although human exposure to biting may be largely limited to evening outdoor activities. This study indicates Cx. modestus can be a major human-biting species in the UK whilst Cx. pipiens f. pipiens may show greater opportunistic human-biting than indicated by earlier studies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-017-2360-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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British Container Breeding Mosquitoes: The Impact of Urbanisation and Climate Change on Community Composition and Phenology

Cited by 95 publications

References 28 publications

Thermal physiology and urbanization: perspectives on exit, entry and transformation rules

Thermal physiology and urbanization: perspectives on exit, entry and transformation rules

Water depth‐dependent notonectid predatory impacts across larval mosquito ontogeny

How often do mosquitoes bite humans in southern England? A standardised summer trial at four sites reveals spatial, temporal and site-related variation in biting rates

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