Chemical ecology of nectar–mosquito interactions: recent advances and future directions

Abstract

Mosquitoes, males and females, rely on sugar-rich resources including floral nectar as a primary source of sugar to meet their energy and nutritional needs. Despite advancements in understanding mosquito host-seeking and blood-feeding preferences, significant gaps in our knowledge of the chemical ecology mediating mosquito-nectar associations remain. The influence of such association with nectar on mosquito behavior, and the resulting effects on their fitness are also not totally understood. It is significant that floral nectar frequently acts as a natural habitat for various microbes (e.g., bacteria and yeast), which substantially alter nectar characteristics, influencing the nutritional ecology of flower-visiting insects such as mosquitoes. The role of nectar-inhabiting microbes in shaping the nectar-mosquito interactions remains, however, under-researched. This review explores recent advances in understanding the role of such multitrophic interactions on the fitness and life history traits of mosquitoes and outlines future directions for research towards their control as disease vectors.