Abstract
The transmission of Plasmodium within a vertebrate host population is strongly associated with the life history traits of its vector. Therefore the effect of malaria infection on mosquito fecundity and longevity has traditionally received a lot of attention. Several species of malaria parasites reduce mosquito fecundity, nevertheless almost all of the studies have focused only on the first gonotrophic cycle. Yet, during their lifetime, female mosquitoes go through several gonotrophic cycles, which raises the question of whether they are able to compensate the fecundity costs induced by the parasite. The impact of Plasmodium infection on female longevity is not so clear and has produced conflicting results. Here we measured the impact of Plasmodium relictum on its vector’s longevity and fecundity during three consecutive gonotrophic cycles. In accordance with previous studies, we observed a negative impact of Plasmodium infection on mosquito (Culex pipiens) fecundity in the first gonotrophic cycle. Interestingly, despite having taken two subsequent uninfected blood meals, the negative impact of malaria parasite persisted. Nevertheless no impact of infection on mosquito longevity was observed. Our results are not in line with the hypothesis that the reduction of fecundity observed in infected mosquitoes is an adaptive strategy of Plasmodium to increase the longevity of its vector. We discuss the different underlying mechanisms that may explain our results.
Highlights
The transmission dynamics of malaria parasites within a vertebrate host population is highly associated with the fitness of its vector [1,2,3]
GC and Plasmodium infection both had an impact on mosquito fecundity
The longevity of females after the third blood meal was not impacted by Plasmodium infection
Summary
The transmission dynamics of malaria parasites within a vertebrate host population is highly associated with the fitness of its vector [1,2,3]. Several species of malaria parasites have been shown to impact negatively the fecundity of mosquitoes [5,9,10]. It is often difficult to determine whether this reduction in fecundity is directly induced by the parasite, or whether it is a by-product of the lower quality of the infected blood [9,11,12]. Plasmodium infections induce anaemia in their vertebrate hosts [12,13], and red blood cells are a crucial energy resource for egg production in female mosquitoes [13,14].
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