Wanjiku Caroline, Tchouassi David P, Sole Catherine L, Pirk Christian W W, Torto Baldwyn
Behavioural and Chemical Ecology Unit, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya.
Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Hatfield 0028, Republic of South Africa.
J Vector Ecol. 2021 Jun;46(1):19-23. doi: 10.52707/1081-1710-46.1.19.
Variation in vector traits can modulate local scale differences in pathogen transmission. Here, we compared seasonal variation in the wing length (proxy for body size) and energy reserves of adult wild-caught populations from a dengue endemic (Kilifi) and non-endemic (Isiolo) area of Kenya. Vector sampling in the dengue endemic site was conducted during the dry and wet seasons. In the non-endemic area, it was limited to the dry season which characterizes this ecology where sporadic or no rainfall is commonplace during the year. We found variation by site in the body size of both sexes, with an overall smaller size of populations collected from Isiolo than those from Kilifi. Our results show that although total carbohydrates and lipids levels were highest in both sexes during the dry season, they were two-fold higher in males than females. However, we found weak correlations between body size and energy reserves for both sexes, with body size being more sensitive in identifying differences at a population level. These results provide insights into the determinants of the vectoring potential of populations in dengue endemic and non-endemic ecologies in Kenya.
病媒特征的变化可调节病原体传播的局部尺度差异。在此，我们比较了从肯尼亚登革热流行地区（基利菲）和非流行地区（伊索洛）野外捕获的成年种群的翅长（身体大小的指标）和能量储备的季节变化。在登革热流行地点的病媒采样在旱季和雨季进行。在非流行地区，采样仅限于旱季，该地区的生态特征是全年降雨稀少或无降雨。我们发现两个地点的两性个体大小存在差异，从伊索洛采集的种群总体上比从基利菲采集的种群小。我们的结果表明，尽管旱季两性的总碳水化合物和脂质水平最高，但雄性比雌性高出两倍。然而，我们发现两性的身体大小与能量储备之间的相关性较弱，身体大小在识别种群水平差异方面更敏感。这些结果为肯尼亚登革热流行和非流行生态环境中种群传播潜力的决定因素提供了见解。
