title: Impact of inter- and intra-specific competition among larvae on larval, adult, and life-table traits ofAedes aegyptiandAedes albopictusfemales.
abstract: Few studies have taken a comprehensive approach of measuring the impact of inter- and intra-specific larval competition on adult mosquito traits. In this study, the impact of competitionAedes aegyptiandA. albopictuswas quantified over the entire life of a cohort.Competitive treatments affected hatch-to-adult survivorship and development time to adulthood of females for both species, but affected median wing length of females only forA. albopictus. Competitive treatments had no significant effect on the median adult female longevity nor were there any effects on other individual traits related to bloodfeeding and reproductive success.Analysis of life table traits revealed no effect of competitive treatment on net reproductive rate (R0) but there were significant effects on cohort generation time (Tc) and cohort rate of increase (r) for both species.Inter-specific and intra-specific competition amongAedeslarvae may produce individual and population-level effects that are manifest in adults; however, benign conditions may enable resulting adults to compensate for some impacts of competition, particularly those affecting blood feeding success, fecundity, and net reproductive rate, R0. The effect of competition, therefore, affects primarily larva - to - adult survivorship and larval development time, which in turn impact the cohort generation time, Tcand ultimately cohort rate of increase,r.The lack of effects of larval rearing environment on adult longevity suggests that effects on vectorial capacity due to longevity may be limited if adults have easy access to sugar and blood meals.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 61790-4120 USA.
authors.forename: Bruce H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Noden
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 61790-4120 USA.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: O'Neal
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 61790-4120 USA.
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Fader
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 61790-4120 USA.
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Juliano
keywords: Aedes aegypti; Aedes albopictus; individual traits; larval competition; life table; population level traits