Abstract
Predator-prey interactions influence prey traits through both consumptive and non-consumptive effects, and variation in these traits can shape vector-borne disease dynamics. Meta-analysis methods were employed to generate predation effect sizes by different categories of predators and mosquito prey. This analysis showed that multiple families of aquatic predators are effective in consumptively reducing mosquito survival, and that the survival of Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex mosquitoes is negatively impacted by consumptive effects of predators. Mosquito larval size was found to play a more important role in explaining the heterogeneity of consumptive effects from predators than mosquito genus. Mosquito survival and body size were reduced by non-consumptive effects of predators, but development time was not significantly impacted. In addition, Culex vectors demonstrated predator avoidance behavior during oviposition. The results of this meta-analysis suggest that predators limit disease transmission by reducing both vector survival and vector size, and that associations between drought and human West Nile virus cases could be driven by the vector behavior of predator avoidance during oviposition. These findings are likely to be useful to infectious disease modelers who rely on vector traits as predictors of transmission.
Highlights
While it is well known that predation reduces vector populations through consumptive effects, non- consumptive effects of predators can greatly impact prey demographics (Preisser et al, 2005)
Three studies were estimated to be missing from the non-consumptive survival data, and accounting for imputed values from missing studies resulted in a shift in the predation effect size from –0.11, p-value = 0.0016, to -0.13, p-v alue < 0.0001
A small, but significant, decrease in mosquito survival due to non-consumptive effects of predators was observed, suggesting that mosquitoes can be ‘scared to death’ by predators (Preisser et al, 2005). Both male and female body sizes were reduced among mosquitoes that had been exposed to predators, and predator avoidance during oviposition was observed among female Culex mosquitoes
Summary
While it is well known that predation reduces vector populations through consumptive effects, non- consumptive effects of predators can greatly impact prey demographics (Preisser et al, 2005). There is motivation from a public health perspective to better understand the different drivers of variation in mosquito traits that can impact vector population growth and disease transmission. Systematic review and meta-a nalysis methods are used to synthesize a clearer understanding of the consumptive and non-c onsumptive effects of predators on mosquito traits, including survival, oviposition, development, and size. The consumptive effects of predators on mosquitoes have previously been harnessed for biocontrol purposes. The strength of the consumptive effects of these predators on mosquitoes can be influenced by multiple factors, including predator-p rey size ratio and temperature. Predator- prey body size ratios tend to be higher in freshwater habitats than other types of habitats (Brose et al, 2006), and attack rate tends to increase with temperature (Kalinoski and DeLong, 2016; Dam and Peterson, 1988), other studies suggest a unimodal response to temperature (Uiterwaal and Delong, 2020; Englund et al, 2011)
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