Competition and resource depletion shape the thermal response of population fitness in Aedes aegypti.

ABSTRACT: Mathematical models that incorporate the temperature dependence of lab-measured life history traits are increasingly being used to predict how climatic warming will affect ectotherms, including disease vectors and other arthropods. These temperature-trait relationships are typically measured under laboratory conditions that ignore how conspecific competition in depleting resource environments-a commonly occurring scenario in nature-regulates natural populations. Here, we used laboratory experiments on the mosquito Aedes aegypti, combined with a stage-structured population model, to investigate this issue. We find that intensified larval competition in ecologically-realistic depleting resource environments can significantly diminish the vector's maximal population-level fitness across the e

SUBMITTER: Huxley PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8770499 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature