Fig. 1

Behavioural and physiological responses of gravid Aedes aegypti to volatiles emanating from conspecific stage-conditioned water. The number of eggs laid by female mosquitoes in response to water conditioned with different densities of a eggs, b second-instar larvae, c fourth-instar larvae and d pupal exuviae. The different lowercase letters indicate significant differences (P < 0.05), as determined by an ANOVA followed by a Tukey post-hoc test. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. In e–h, the combined gas chromatograph, flame ionization detection and electroantennographic detection (EAD) analyses demonstrate antennal responses of Ae. aegypti (mV) in response to bioactive volatile organic compounds in the headspace of conspecific immature-conditioned water eluting over time (min) from the gas chromatograph, and detected by the flame ionization detector (FID). Asterisks in the EAD traces represent compounds that were also present in the control SPME headspace