Interactive effects of salinity and a predator on mosquito oviposition and larval performance

Abstract

Oviposition habitat selection (OHS) is increasingly being recognized as playing a large role in explaining mosquito distributions and community assemblages. Most studies have assessed the role of single factors affecting OHS, while in nature, oviposition patterns are most likely explained by multiple, interacting biotic and abiotic factors. Determining how various factors interact to affect OHS is important for understanding metapopulation and metacommunity dynamics. We investigated the individual and interactive effects of three water salinities (0, 15 and 30 p.p.t. NaCl added) and the aquatic predator Anisops debilis Perplexa (Hemiptera: Notonectidae) on OHS and larval performance of the mosquitoes Ochlerotatus caspius Pallas and Culiseta longiareolata Macquart (Diptera: Culicidae) in outdoor-artificial-pool and laboratory experiments. C. longiareolata inhabited only freshwater pools, strongly avoided pools containing A. debilis, and larvae experienced lower survival in the presence of A. debilis. Salinity concentration interacted strongly with the predator in affecting OHS and larval survival of O. caspius; oviposition increased with increasing salinity in the absence of the predator and decreased with increasing salinity in the presence of the predator. O. caspius larval survival in predator-free pools was lowest in freshwater and highest at intermediate salinity. In predator pools, survival was highest at high salinity, where predation rate was shown to be lowest in the laboratory. Our results highlight that assessing the role of single factors in affecting mosquito distributions can be misleading. Instead, multiple factors may interact to affect oviposition patterns and larval performance.