Abstract
Aedes aegypti is an important disease vector and a major target of reproductive control efforts. We manipulated the opportunity for sexual selection in populations of Ae. aegypti by controlling the number of males competing for a single female. Populations exposed to higher levels of male competition rapidly evolved higher male competitive mating success relative to populations evolved in the absence of competition, with an evolutionary response visible after only five generations. We also detected correlated evolution in other important mating and life-history traits, such as acoustic signalling, fecundity and body size. Our results indicate that there is ample segregating variation for determinants of male mating competitiveness in wild populations and that increased male mating success trades-off with other important life-history traits. The mating conditions imposed on laboratory-reared mosquitoes are likely a significant determinant of male mating success in populations destined for release.
Highlights
The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is both an important vector of viruses and a main target of current reproductive control efforts
We found that populations exposed to higher levels of male competition evolved higher competitive mating success relative to populations evolved in the absence of competition, with an evolutionary response visible after only five generations
Experimental populations originated from collections of immature mosquitoes made from water storage containers (n 1⁄4 17) in two villages located in Muang District, Kamphaeng Phet Province (KPP), Thailand between February and April 2016
Summary
The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is both an important vector of viruses and a main target of current reproductive control efforts. We hypothesized that there was sufficient standing genetic variation in traits determining male mating success in a wild Ae. aegypti population to allow for an evolutionary response to the selection regimes within a limited number of generations. There were significant effects of the mating regime on the probability that a male is accepted by a female in isolated pair experiments, female body size and the number of eggs produced by females in the first clutch. This is the first time an experimental evolution approach has been applied to investigate sexual selection in mosquitoes. Our results indi- 2 cate that there is ample segregating variation for male mating success in wild populations and that this variation trades-off with other important life-history traits
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