Desiccation tolerance as a function of age, sex, humidity and temperature in adults of the African malaria vectors Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles funestus
Date
2014-09
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Company of Biologists
Abstract
Adult mosquito survival is strongly temperature and moisture dependent. Few studies have investigated the interacting effects of these variables on adult survival and how this differs among the sexes and with age, despite the importance of such information for population dynamic models. For these reasons, the desiccation tolerance of Anopheles arabiensis Patton and Anopheles funestus Giles males and females of three different ages was assessed under three combinations of temperature and humidity. Females were more desiccation tolerant than males, surviving for longer periods than males under all experimental conditions. In addition, younger adults were more tolerant of desiccation than older groups. Both species showed reduced water loss rate (WLR) as the primary mechanism by which they tolerate desiccation. Although A. arabiensis is often considered to be the more arid-adapted of the two species, it showed lower survival times and higher WLR than A. funestus. The current information could improve population dynamic models of these vectors, given that adult survival information for such models is relatively sparse.
Description
CITATION: Lyons, C. L., Coetzee, M., Terblanche, J. S. & Chown, S. L. 2014. Desiccation tolerance as a function of age, sex, humidity and temperature in adults of the African malaria vectors Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles funestus. Journal of Experimental Biology, 217:3823-3833, doi:10.1242/jeb.104638.
The original publication is available at http://jeb.biologists.org
The original publication is available at http://jeb.biologists.org
Keywords
Age-related variation, Mosquitoes, Cross-tolerance, Population dynamics, Ecophysiology, Water loss
Citation
Lyons, C. L., Coetzee, M., Terblanche, J. S. & Chown, S. L. 2014. Desiccation tolerance as a function of age, sex, humidity and temperature in adults of the African malaria vectors Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles funestus. Journal of Experimental Biology, 217:3823-3833, doi:10.1242/jeb.104638.