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About the Authors:
Maarten Schrama
Contributed equally to this work with: Maarten Schrama, Erin E. Gorsich
Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - original draft
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliations Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands, Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9803-6244
Erin E. Gorsich
Contributed equally to this work with: Maarten Schrama, Erin E. Gorsich
Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Affiliations Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands, Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America
Ellard R. Hunting
Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - original draft
Affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
S. Henrik Barmentlo
Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Brianna Beechler
Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America
Peter M. van Bodegom
Roles Conceptualization, Resources, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The NetherlandsAbstract
Adequate predictions of mosquito-borne disease risk require an understanding of the relevant drivers governing mosquito populations. Since previous studies have focused mainly on the role of temperature, here we assessed the effects of other important ecological variables (predation, nutrient availability, presence of conspecifics) in conjunction with the role of temperature on mosquito life history parameters. We carried out two mesocosm experiments with the common brown house mosquito, Culex pipiens, a confirmed vector for West Nile Virus, Usutu and Sindbis, and a controphic species; the harlequin fly, Chironomus riparius. The first experiment quantified interactions between predation by Notonecta glauca L. (Hemiptera: Notonectidae) and temperature on adult emergence. The second experiment quantified interactions between nutrient additions and temperature on larval mortality and adult emergence. Results indicate that 1) irrespective of temperature, predator presence decreased mosquito larval survival and adult emergence by 20-50%, 2) nutrient additions led to a 3-4-fold increase in mosquito adult emergence and a 2-day decrease in development time across...