Rebecca A Finger-Higgens
Matthew P. Ayres
Ross A Virginia
Lauren E Culler
Melissa H DeSiervo
2023
<ol class=""><li>Organisms that undergo a shift in ontogeny and habitat type often change their spatial distribution throughout their life cycle, but how this affects population dynamics remains poorly understood.</li><li>We examined spatial and temporal patterns in<span> </span><i>Aedes nigripes</i><span> </span>abundance, a widespread univoltine Arctic mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae), hypothesizing that the spatial distribution of adults would be closely tied to aquatic habitat.</li><li>We tracked adult densities of<span> </span><i>A. nigripes</i><span> </span>near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland using emergence traps, CO<sub>2</sub>-baited traps, and sweep-nets.</li><li>In back-to-back years of sampling (2017 and 2018) we found two-fold variation in overall abundance.</li><li>Adults were spatially patchy when first emerging from aquatic habitats but within a week, mean capture rates for host-seeking adult females were similar across locations, even in places far from larval habitat.</li><li>Daily variation in mosquito captures was primarily explained by weather, with virtually no mosquito activity when temperatures averaged less than 8°C or wind speeds exceeded 6 m/s. Gravid females (3% of resting adults) were spatially patchy on the landscape, but not always in the same places where most adults emerged.</li><li>The spatial distribution of adults is quickly uncoupled from the spatial distribution of larvae because<span> </span><i>A. nigripes</i><span> </span>females may disperse far from their natal habitats in search of a blood-meal and high-quality oviposition habitat.</li><li>8. This research highlights the value of studying ecological processes that act at disparate life stages for understanding the population biology of organisms with complex life cycles.</li></ol>
application/pdf
10.1111/een.13198
en
Royal Entomological Society
Spatial and temporal patterns in Arctic mosquito abundance
article