Abstract
BackgroundAs ectothermic animals, temperature influences insects in almost every aspect. The potential disease spreading Asian bush mosquito (Aedes japonicus japonicus) is native to temperate East Asia but invasive in several parts of the world. We report on the previously poorly understood temperature-dependence of its life history under laboratory conditions to understand invasion processes and to model temperature niches.ResultsTo evaluate winter survival, eggs were exposed between 1 day and 14 days to low temperatures (5 °C, 0 °C, -5 °C and -9 °C). Hatching success was drastically decreased after exposure to 0 °C and -5 °C, and the minimal hatching success of 0% was reached at -9 °C after two days. We then exposed larvae to 14 temperatures and assessed their life trait parameters. Larval survival to adulthood was only possible between 10 °C and 31 °C. Based on this, we modelled the optimal (25 °C), minimal (7 °C) and maximal (31 °C) temperature for cumulative female survival. The time to adult emergence ranges from 12 days to 58 days depending on temperature. We used an age-at-emergence-temperature model to calculate the number of potential generations per year for the Asian bush mosquito in Germany with an average of 4.72 potential generations. At lower temperatures, individuals grew larger than at higher temperatures with female R1 length ranging from 3.04 ± 0.1 mm at 31 °C to 4.26 ± 0.2 mm at 15 °C.ConclusionsReduced egg hatch after exposure to sub-zero temperatures prohibits the establishment of the Asian bush mosquito in large parts of Germany. Larval overwintering is not possible at temperature ≤ 5 °C. The many potential generations displayed per year may contribute to the species’ invasion success. This study on the thermal ecology of the Asian bush mosquito adds to our knowledge on the temperature dependence of the species and data could be incorporated in epidemiological and population dynamic modelling.
Highlights
IntroductionThe potential disease spreading Asian bush mosquito (Aedes japonicus japonicus) is native to temperate East Asia but invasive in several parts of the world
As ectothermic animals, temperature influences insects in almost every aspect
Knowledge of the temperature tolerance of this species is important for the development of epidemiological, phenological or population dynamic models to predict the further faith of these invasive populations
Summary
The potential disease spreading Asian bush mosquito (Aedes japonicus japonicus) is native to temperate East Asia but invasive in several parts of the world. [4, 18, 19], prevalence of dissemination [4, 17, 19], transmission rate [4], and extrinsic incubation period [20, 21] are influenced by temperature depending on the species of mosquito and virus (reviewed in [22]). The Asian bush mosquito (Aedes japonicus japonicus Theobald, 1901), a mosquito native to temperate East Asia, is a competent vector of arboviruses like West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis virus and La Crosse virus under laboratory conditions [23,24,25]. Knowledge of the temperature tolerance of this species is important for the development of epidemiological, phenological or population dynamic models to predict the further faith of these invasive populations
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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 call
