Interspecific Larval Competition Between Aedes albopictus and Aedes japonicus (Diptera: Culicidae) in Northern Virginia

Abstract

Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Aedes japonicus (Theobald) are two of the most recent and widespread invasive mosquito species to have become established in the United States. The two species co-occur in water-filled artificial containers, where crowding and limiting resources are likely to promote inter- or intraspecific larval competition. The performance of northern Virginia populations of Ae. japonicus and Ae. albopictus competing as larvae under field conditions was evaluated. Per capita rates of population increase for each species were estimated, and the effects of species composition and larval density were determined. In water-containing cups provided with oak leaves, Ae. albopictus larvae exhibited a competitive advantage over Ae. japonicus as a consequence of higher survivorship, shorter developmental time, and a significantly higher estimated population growth rate under conditions of interspecific competition. Intraspecific competition constrained population performance of Ae. albopictus significantly more than competition with Ae. japonicus. In the context of the Lotka-Volterra model of competition, these findings suggest competitive exclusion of Ae. japonicus in those habitats where this species co-occurs with Ae. albopictus.

The rise of the invasives and decline of the natives: insights revealed from adult populations of container-inhabiting Aedes mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in temperate North America

“…It is uncertain whether this balance will be upset by further encroachment of A. albopictus into northern New Jersey. This species is a superior competitor to A. japonicus (Armistead et al 2008), and, in our study, A. japonicus adult populations experienced small (but significant) declines both temporally during the later stages of A. albopictus invasion (2006-2010 time period) and spatially as a displacement of high density clusters along the coast.…”

“…(1) A. albopictus is a stronger larval competitor and would displace the native A. triseriatus with some exceptions, see hypothesis #3 (Livdahl and Willey 1991;Novak et al 1993;Teng and Apperson 2000;Lounibos et al 2001); (2) A. japonicus is an inferior larval competitor to A. albopictus and a superior larval competitor to A. triseriatus (Armistead et al 2008;Andreadis and Wolfe 2010;Alto 2011) resulting in similarly detectable trends in the adult populations; (3) A. triseriatus displacement trends are context-dependent with urban areas experiencing sharper declines compared to less disturbed rural environments Willey 1991, Lounibos et al 2001); (4) interactions among these species will be dependent on climatic conditions, with warmer temperatures generally favoring larval A. albopictus (Hanson and Craig 1995;Teng and Apperson 2000;Armistead et al 2008), translating into increased adult population growth for this species.…”

Projection of climatic suitability for Aedes albopictus Skuse (Culicidae) in Europe under climate change conditions

“…Knowledge on interspecific competition, predation as well as quantitative life history traits may improve the understanding of the invasion processes (Juliano et al, 2004;Juliano and Lounibos, 2005;Armbruster and Conn, 2006;Armistead et al, 2008;Juliano, 2009) and could provide input data for process-based models of invader spread. As the mosquito adapts rapidly to its environment the ecological niche models will have to be updated iteratively.…”

Geospatial analysis of invasion of the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus: competition with Aedes japonicus japonicus in its northern limit area in Japan

“…Ae. japonicus japonicus, another widespread and invasive species has become established in the United States of America (USA) and in parts of central Europe (Schaffner et al, 2003;Armistead et al, 2008;Werner et al, 2012). In Japan, Ae.…”