Abstract
Future anthropogenic climate change is predicted to impact sensory-driven behaviors. Building on recent improvements in computational power and tracking technology, we have developed a versatile climate-controlled wind tunnel system, in which to study the effect of climate parameters, including temperature, precipitation, and elevated greenhouse gas levels, on odor-mediated behaviors in insects. To establish a baseline for future studies, we here analyzed the host-seeking behavior of the major malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae sensu strico, to human odor and carbon dioxide (CO2), under tightly controlled climatic conditions, and isolated from potential background contamination by the presence of an experimenter. When presented with a combination of human foot odor and CO2 (case study I), mosquitoes engaged in faster crosswind flight, spent more time in the filamentous odor plume and targeted the odor source more successfully. In contrast, female An. gambiae s. s. presented with different concentrations of CO2 alone, did not display host-seeking behavior (case study II). These observations support previous findings on the role of human host-associated cues in host seeking and confirm the role of CO2 as a synergist, but not a host-seeking cue on its own. Future studies are aimed at investigating the effect of climate change on odor-mediated behavior in mosquitoes and other insects. Moreover, the system will be used to investigate detection and processing of olfactory information in various behavioral contexts, by providing a fine-scale analysis of flight behavior.
Highlights
Insects integrate cues of multiple sensory modalities to navigate in their environment in order to locate suitable food sources, mating partners, or oviposition sites (Buehlmann et al, 2020)
The versatile climate chamber and wind tunnel system presented in this study provides these features, and facilitates tracking insect flight in 3 dimensions (3D)
Control Panel: Airspeed, Temperature and Relative Humidity The coarse setting for the air pressure was pre-set upon installation of the wind tunnel system, where the fans F1, F2, and F3 were individually adjusted via three five-step transformers (Systemair 5000, type RE 1.5, Tuvfassons 7886-009; Tuvfassons, Sigtuna, Sweden; Figure 1)
Summary
Insects integrate cues of multiple sensory modalities to navigate in their environment in order to locate suitable food sources, mating partners, or oviposition sites (Buehlmann et al, 2020). At intermediate distances, gated by the encounter of human-emanated carbon dioxide (CO2) and body odors, mosquitoes approach high-contrast visual features (van Breugel et al, 2015; Hawkes and Gibson, 2016) and initiate landing in the presence of short-range host cues, such as body heat and humidity (McMeniman et al, 2014) While these basic characteristics are common to all host-seeking mosquito species, details, such as the relative importance of the respective cues, differ in respect to, e.g., host preference and daily flight activity patterns (Cooperband and Cardé, 2006; Dekker and Cardé, 2011; Spitzen et al, 2013; Hawkes and Gibson, 2016). Case study II supports previous findings that An. gambiae s. s. likely does not use CO2 on its own as a cue in host seeking
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
