title: Explaining the host-finding behavior of blood-sucking insects: computerized simulation of the effects of habitat geometry on tsetse fly movement.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Male and female tsetse flies feed exclusively on vertebrate blood. While doing so they can transmit the diseases of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in domestic stock. Knowledge of the host-orientated behavior of tsetse is important in designing bait methods of sampling and controlling the flies, and in understanding the epidemiology of the diseases. For this we must explain several puzzling distinctions in the behavior of the different sexes and species of tsetse. For example, why is it that the species occupying savannahs, unlike those of riverine habitats, appear strongly responsive to odor, rely mainly on large hosts, are repelled by humans, and are often shy of alighting on baits?
  
  
  RESULTS
  A deterministic model that simulated fly mobility and host-finding success suggested that the behavioral distinctions between riverine, savannah and forest tsetse are due largely to habitat size and shape, and the extent to which dense bushes limit occupiable space within the habitats. These factors seemed effective primarily because they affect the daily displacement of tsetse, reducing it by up to ∼70%. Sex differences in behavior are explicable by females being larger and more mobile than males.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Habitat geometry and fly size provide a framework that can unify much of the behavior of all sexes and species of tsetse everywhere. The general expectation is that relatively immobile insects in restricted habitats tend to be less responsive to host odors and more catholic in their diet. This has profound implications for the optimization of bait technology for tsetse, mosquitoes, black flies and tabanids, and for the epidemiology of the diseases they transmit.
authors.affiliation: Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham, United Kingdom; Southern African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Glyn A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Vale
authors.affiliation: Southern African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Hargrove
authors.affiliation: The Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - The Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (IRD-CIRAD), Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Solano
authors.affiliation: The Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - The Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (IRD-CIRAD), Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Courtin
authors.affiliation: The Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - The Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (IRD-CIRAD), Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Jean-Baptiste
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Rayaisse
authors.affiliation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lehane
authors.affiliation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Esterhuizen
authors.affiliation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Inaki
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tirados
authors.affiliation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Torr
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017753:Ecosystem; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D008124:Locomotion; D008297:Male; D014370:Tsetse Flies / Q000502:physiology*