Sugar Deprivation Reduces Insemination of Anopheles gambiae (Diptera: Culicidae), Despite Daily Recruitment of Adults, and Predicts Decline in Model Populations

Our research tests the hypothesis that the inability to sugar-feed reduces the insemination rate in mosquito populations. To test this, we measured the effects of sugar availability on cumulative insemination performance of male Anopheles gambiae Giles s. s. (Diptera: Culicidae) during 10-d periods...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical entomology 2009-11, Vol.46 (6), p.1327-1337
Main Authors: Stone, C. M., Taylor, R. M., Roitberg, B. D., Foster, W. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adult insects
Animals
Anopheles - metabolism
Anopheles - physiology
Anopheles gambiae
BEHAVIOR, CHEMICAL ECOLOGY
Biological and medical sciences
Culicidae
Diptera
fecundity
Feeding Behavior
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Insecta
insemination
Insemination - physiology
Invertebrates
Male
Mating
mating frequency
mating performance
Medically important nuisances and vectors, pests of stored products and materials: population survey and control
Mesocosms
mosquito
mosquito control
polyandry
population characteristics
Population decline
Population Density
Population levels
population projection matrix
prediction
Recruitment
Sex
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Sucrose
Sucrose - metabolism
Sugar
sugar feeding
Survival
Vectors. Intermediate hosts
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Summary:Our research tests the hypothesis that the inability to sugar-feed reduces the insemination rate in mosquito populations. To test this, we measured the effects of sugar availability on cumulative insemination performance of male Anopheles gambiae Giles s. s. (Diptera: Culicidae) during 10-d periods of continual emergence of equal numbers of both sexes, and we evaluated the implications at the population level with a matrix population model. On each day of each of four replicates, 20 newly emerged mosquitoes of each sex were recruited into the populations within two mesocosms, large walk-in enclosures with simulated natural conditions. Each mesocosm contained a cage to replicate the experiment on a small scale. Scented sucrose was absent or present (control). A human host was available nightly as a bloodmeal source in both mesocosms. Sugar availability and enclosure size significantly influenced female insemination. In the mesocosms, with sugar 49.7% of the females were inseminated, compared with 10.9% of the females without sugar. In the small cages, the insemination rates were 76.0 and 23.5%, respectively. In the mesocosms, cumulative survival of females after 10 d was 51.6% with sugar and 25.6% without sugar. In the cages, female survival was 95 and 73%, respectively. Sensitivity analysis of the population projection matrix shows that both reduced male survival and reduced mating capability due to a lack of sugar contributed to lower insemination rates in females, and in the absence of sugar the insemination rate was lowered to an extent that led to population decline.
ISSN:0022-2585
1938-2928
DOI:10.1603/033.046.0611