Reyes-Torres Limarie J, de Jesús Crespo Rebeca, Oczkowski Autumn J, Yee Donald A
School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA.
Department of Environmental Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
J Med Entomol. 2025 Jul 17;62(4):816-827. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjaf058.
Detrital inputs from the surrounding terrestrial environment provide essential nutrients that sustain mosquito populations in aquatic containers. The larvae of Aedes aegypti (L.), an anthropophilic invasive vector species, often develop in artificial habitats in urban areas but little is known about how that environment shapes their life history or phenotypic traits. We hypothesized that container detritus, nutrients, and larval interspecific competition with the endemic mosquito, Aedes mediovittatus (Coquillett), would vary along an urban gradient in the San Juan Metropolitan Area in Puerto Rico. We also hypothesized that fine-scale variations within a 200 m buffer of the container environment would alter Ae. aegypti larval nutrients, density, and biomass. We sampled mosquito larvae, container detritus, and suspended particulate organic matter in 44 locations and characterized the surrounding environment in terms of land cover, land use, and vegetation α diversity. We show that container detritus and nutrients are influenced by fine-scale environmental variations environment, affecting Ae. aegypti and Ae. mediovittatus larvae phenotypic traits and nutrient composition. Aedes aegypti was the dominant species in all samples across the urban gradient. We found a negative relationship between Ae. mediovittatus larval % carbon and vegetation cover in the surrounding environment, and a negative correlation between this species' larval C:N and suspended particulate organic matter C:N. These findings suggest a potential disadvantage in nutrient allocation that could affect its competitive ability in urban areas. We found smaller and less nitrogen enriched (δ¹⁵N) Ae. aegypti in containers surrounded by higher impervious cover. The implications of these findings on potential vector disease risk across urban gradients are discussed.
来自周围陆地环境的碎屑输入提供了维持水生容器中蚊子种群的必需营养物质。埃及伊蚊（Aedes aegypti (L.)）是一种嗜人侵袭性病媒物种，其幼虫通常在城市地区的人工栖息地中发育，但对于该环境如何塑造其生活史或表型特征知之甚少。我们假设，容器碎屑、营养物质以及与本地蚊子中脉伊蚊（Aedes mediovittatus (Coquillett)）的幼虫种间竞争，会在波多黎各圣胡安都会区的城市梯度上有所不同。我们还假设，容器环境200米缓冲区内的精细尺度变化会改变埃及伊蚊幼虫的营养、密度和生物量。我们在44个地点对蚊子幼虫、容器碎屑和悬浮颗粒有机物进行了采样，并根据土地覆盖、土地利用和植被α多样性对周围环境进行了特征描述。我们表明，容器碎屑和营养物质受到精细尺度环境变化的影响，进而影响埃及伊蚊和中脉伊蚊幼虫的表型特征和营养成分。埃及伊蚊是城市梯度上所有样本中的优势物种。我们发现中脉伊蚊幼虫的碳百分比与周围环境中的植被覆盖之间存在负相关，且该物种幼虫的碳氮比与悬浮颗粒有机物的碳氮比之间存在负相关。这些发现表明，在营养分配方面可能存在劣势，这可能会影响其在城市地区的竞争能力。我们发现，在被更高不透水覆盖物包围的容器中，埃及伊蚊体型更小且氮富集程度更低（δ¹⁵N）。本文讨论了这些发现对城市梯度上潜在病媒疾病风险的影响。
