Potential for urban warming to postpone overwintering dormancy of temperate mosquitoes

Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved..

Cities are generally hotter than surrounding rural areas due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. These increases in temperature advance plant and animal phenology, development, and reproduction in the spring. However, research determining how increased temperatures affect the seasonal physiology of animals in the fall has been limited. The Northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens, is abundant in cities and transmits several pathogens including West Nile virus. Females of this species enter a state of developmental arrest, or reproductive diapause, in response to short days and low temperatures during autumn. Diapausing females halt reproduction and blood-feeding, and instead accumulate fat and seek sheltered overwintering sites. We found that exposure to increased temperatures in the lab that mimic the UHI effect induced ovarian development and blood-feeding, and that females exposed to these temperatures were as fecund as non-diapausing mosquitoes. We also found that females exposed to higher temperatures had lower survival rates in winter-like conditions, despite having accumulated equivalent lipid reserves relative to their diapausing congeners. These data suggest that urban warming may inhibit diapause initiation in the autumn, thereby extending the active biting season of temperate mosquitoes.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2023

Erschienen:

2023

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:115

Enthalten in:

Journal of thermal biology - 115(2023) vom: 05. Juli, Seite 103594

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Fyie, Lydia R [VerfasserIn]
Tronetti, Hannah R [VerfasserIn]
Gardiner, Mary M [VerfasserIn]
Meuti, Megan E [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Culex pipiens
Diapause
Journal Article
Northern house mosquito
Urban Heat Island

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 24.07.2023

Date Revised 24.07.2023

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.jtherbio.2023.103594

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM359300901