The roles of history: age and prior exploitation in aquatic container habitats have immediate and carry‐over effects on mosquito life history

Abstract

Per-capita resource availability in aquatic habitats is influenced directly by consumer density via resource competition and indirectly via delayed resource competition when temporally non-overlapping cohorts of larvae exploit the same resources. In detritus-based systems, resources are likely to be influenced by the age of the aquatic habitat, as detritus changes in quality over time and may be replenished by new inputs.For aquatic insects that exploit detritus-based habitats, feeding conditions experienced during immature stages can influence fitness directly via effects on development and survivorship, but also indirectly by influencing adult traits such as fecundity and longevity.Larval habitat age and prior resource exploitation were manipulated in a field experiment using the container mosquito Aedes triseriatus.It was found that A. triseriatus from older habitats had greater larval survival, faster development and greater adult longevity. Exploitation of larval habitats by a prior cohort of larvae had a significant negative effect on subsequent cohorts of larvae by delaying development.It is suggested that extended conditioning of detritus probably resulted in conversion of recalcitrant resources to more available forms which improved the quality of the habitat.In a parallel study, evidence was found of carry-over effects of habitat age and prior exploitation on adult longevity for A. triseriatus and Aedes japonicus collected from unmanipulated aquatic habitats.These results indicate the importance of detritus dynamics and the discontinuous nature of resource competition in these mosquito-dominated aquatic systems.

Spatial heterogeneity in the abundance and fecundity of Arctic mosquitoes

“…Adult body size is also an indication of food availability and larval densities in aquatic habitats (e.g., Leonard andJuliano 1995, Strand et al 1999). Another possibility has been described as carryover effects (e.g., Westby and Juliano 2017) in which the quality of larval habitats continues to influence fitness in the adult life stage. Based on the variation in body size, it was expected that there would be corresponding variation in the number of eggs per gravid female.…”

“…The host species from which blood was obtained could be one additional factor (Takken and Verhulst 2013). Another possibility has been described as carryover effects (e.g., Westby and Juliano 2017) in which the quality of larval habitats continues to influence fitness in the adult life stage. In our case, this might predict that the nutritional quality of food is different and higher in Pond 3.…”

Invasive species reduces parasite prevalence and neutralizes negative environmental effects on parasitism in a native mosquito

“…japonicus larval abundance on Ae . triseriatus adult longevity in naturally colonized containers (Westby & Juliano, ) implying limited interspecific interaction.…”

Differential Effects of Larval and Adult Nutrition on Survival, Fecundity, and Size of the Yellow Fever Mosquito Aedes Aegypti

“…As an organism with a complex life cycle, mosquitoes experience highly distinct habitats from larval to adult stages and environmental factors may play a critical role in their tness and performance. The environment experienced by larvae may affect adult phenotypes through so called "carry-over effects" [12,13]. For example, larval competition, food quantity and temperature have been reported to affect adult survival, size, longevity and vector competence [14][15][16][17][18].…”