Arnaldo Candela M, Montini Pedro, Fischer Sylvia
Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución and Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (UBA-CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Med Vet Entomol. 2025 Sep 11. doi: 10.1111/mve.70014.
The 'oviposition preference-offspring performance' hypothesis (PPH) proposes that females select oviposition sites that optimise offspring performance. For Aedes aegypti L. (Diptera: Culicidae), the main vector of dengue in the Americas, it is expected that females prefer to lay eggs in containers with high nutritional quality, where developmental success is maximised. In this study we aimed to test the PPH in relation to three detritus decomposition time treatments (3, 14 and 42 days). Oviposition was studied during 1 week in three contiguous ovitraps (one per decomposition time treatment) at 18 sites. Immature development in the three treatments was studied at constant densities (20 larvae) or at realistic densities (eggs/treatment in the oviposition study). The number of eggs from the oviposition study and a performance index based on development time, wing length and survival in the immature development study were compared between treatments. Both the oviposition site selection and the subsequent larval development were affected by the detritus decomposition time. Females laid fewer eggs in the 3-day treatment (mean: 16 eggs) than in the 14- and 42-day treatments (mean: 65 and 62 eggs respectively). Immature developmental performance was inversely related to decomposition time at constant densities, and at realistic densities, immatures performed even worse in the longer decomposition time treatments due to higher larval densities. Thus, the effects of detritus decomposition time seem to act in opposite directions for oviposition site selection and immature development success, which does not align with the PPH. One possible explanation for this apparent contradiction is that containers with short detritus decomposition times could indicate a frequent replacement of water, and that females might be selecting signals associated with habitat permanence to ensure the completion of development of their offspring.
“产卵偏好-后代表现”假说（PPH）提出，雌性会选择能使后代表现最优化的产卵地点。对于美洲登革热的主要传播媒介埃及伊蚊（双翅目：蚊科）而言，预计雌性更倾向于在营养质量高的容器中产卵，因为在此类容器中发育成功率最高。在本研究中，我们旨在针对三种碎屑分解时间处理（3天、14天和42天）来检验PPH。在18个地点的三个相邻诱蚊产卵器中（每种分解时间处理一个），对产卵情况进行了为期1周的研究。在三种处理中，以恒定密度（20只幼虫）或实际密度（产卵研究中每种处理的卵）研究未成熟个体的发育情况。比较了各处理之间产卵研究中的卵数以及基于未成熟个体发育时间、翅长和生存情况的表现指数。碎屑分解时间既影响产卵地点的选择，也影响随后的幼虫发育。在3天处理中雌性产下的卵（平均：16枚卵）比在14天和42天处理中（平均：分别为65枚和62枚卵）少。在恒定密度下，未成熟个体的发育表现与分解时间呈负相关，而在实际密度下，由于幼虫密度较高，在分解时间较长的处理中未成熟个体的表现更差。因此，碎屑分解时间的影响在产卵地点选择和未成熟个体发育成功方面似乎作用方向相反，这与PPH不一致。对这一明显矛盾的一种可能解释是，碎屑分解时间短的容器可能表明水会频繁更换，而且雌性可能是在选择与栖息地持久性相关的信号，以确保其后代发育完成。
