Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, Vero Beach, FL, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Oct 2;15(10):e0234676. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234676. eCollection 2020.
Male and female mosquito larvae compete for different subsets of the yeast food resource in laboratory microcosms. Males compete more intensely with males, and females with females. The amount and timing of food inputs alters both growth and competition, but the effects are different between sexes. Increased density increases competition among males. Among females, density operates primarily by changing the food/larva or total food; this affects competition in some interactions and growth in others. Food added earlier in the life span contributes more to mass than the same quantity added later. After a period of starvation larvae appear to use some of the subsequent food input to rebuild physiological reserves in addition to building mass. The timing of pupation is affected by the independent factors and competition, but not in the same way for the two sexes, and not in the same way as mass at pupation for the two sexes. There is an effect of density on the timing of pupation for females independent of competition or changes in food/larva or total food. Male and female larvae have different larval life history strategies. Males grow quickly to a minimum size, then pupate, depending on the amount of food available. Males that do not grow quickly enough may delay pupation further to grow larger, resulting in a bimodal distribution of sizes and ages. Males appear to have a maximum size determined by the early food level. Females grow faster than males and grow larger than males on the same food inputs. Females affect the growth and competition among males by manipulating the number of particles in the microcosm through changes in feeding behavior. Mosquito larvae appear to have evolved to survive periods of starvation and take advantage of intermittent inputs of food into containers.
雄性和雌性蚊子幼虫在实验室微宇宙中争夺不同的酵母食物资源子集。雄性之间的竞争更为激烈，而雌性之间的竞争则更为激烈。食物输入的数量和时间会改变生长和竞争，但对两性的影响不同。密度增加会增加雄性之间的竞争。对于雌性，密度主要通过改变食物/幼虫或总食物来起作用；这会影响某些相互作用中的竞争和其他相互作用中的生长。在生命历程的早期添加的食物比稍后添加的相同数量的食物对质量的贡献更大。在经历一段饥饿期后，幼虫似乎会将随后的部分食物输入用于除了建立质量之外，还用于重建生理储备。化蛹时间受到独立因素和竞争的影响，但对两性的影响方式不同，对两性化蛹时的质量影响方式也不同。对于雌性，密度对化蛹时间的影响独立于竞争或食物/幼虫或总食物的变化。雄性和雌性幼虫具有不同的幼虫生活史策略。雄性快速生长到最小尺寸，然后化蛹，这取决于可用食物的数量。生长不够快的雄性可能会进一步延迟化蛹，以更大的体型化蛹，导致体型和年龄的双峰分布。雄性似乎有一个由早期食物水平决定的最大尺寸。雌性比雄性生长更快，在相同的食物输入下比雄性生长更大。雌性通过改变微宇宙中的颗粒数量来改变摄食行为，从而影响雄性的生长和竞争。蚊子幼虫似乎已经进化到能够在饥饿时期生存并利用食物间歇性输入到容器中。
