Fitness consequences of altered feeding behavior in immune-challenged mosquitoes

Parasites & Vectors

Table 1 Mosquito reproduction and fitness

Clutch	Mean clutch size
	Control, U (189)	Control, R (185)	Heat-killed E. coli, U (183)	Heat-killed E. coli, R (188)	Sham, U (100)	Sham, R (75)
1	124 ± 3 (114)	118 ± 4 (106)	109 ± 4 (86)	109 ± 11 (111)	119 ± 4 (56)	123 ± 6 (41)
2	117 ± 6 (53)	N/A	117 ± 4 (63)	N/A	108 ± 5 (35)	N/A
3	111 ± 8 (37)	N/A	107 ± 6 (32)	N/A	105 ± 8 (23)	N/A
4	121 ± 6 (27)	103 ± 5 (41)	108 ± 5 (23)	113 ± 6 (39)	127 ± 8 (15)	103 ± 5 (22)
5	101 ± 9 (13)	108 ± 7 (18)	91 ± 5 (12)	101 ± 10 (22)	107 ± 8 (11)	103 ± 6 (15)
Proportion reproducing	0.66	0.62	0.55	0.61	0.60	0.60
Lifetime total reproduction (LTR)	236 ± 16 (110)	173 ± 10 (104)	237 ± 17 (90)	169 ± 11 (108)	287 ± 26 (45)	220 ± 16 (38)
Fitness (r)	0.197 ± .002	0.186 ± .002	0.192 ± .002	0.183 ± .003	0.199 ± .002	0.190 ± .003

Mean clutch size per blood meal, i.e. number of eggs laid, ± standard error, per gonotrophic cycle, for females in each group surviving to oviposition. Numbers in parentheses represent the number of mosquitoes that reproduced (eggs > 0), and were thus included in the calculation. Unaltered ‘U’ feeding regimes were fed every 4 days, while restricted ‘R’ feeding regimes fed on days 0, 12, and 16 after immune-challenge. For these ‘R’ treatment groups that were not offered blood meals during the second and third clutch opportunities, no mosquitoes reproduced, indicated by N/A for a not attainable value. The sum of the total eggs laid across the lifespan is denoted as the lifetime reproduction (LTR) and the mean fitness values calculated as the intrinsic rate of increase (r). The proportions of mosquitoes that laid eggs at some point over the lifespan were roughly equivalent between treatment groups. Mosquitoes that died from experimental handling or were not compliant with treatment were removed and are not included in the calculations for lifetime reproduction or intrinsic rate of increase

ISSN: 1756-3305