Skip to main content

The influence of feeding behaviour and temperature on the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Suh, E; Grossman, MK; Waite, JL; Dennington, NL; Sherrard-Smith, E; Churcher, TS; Thomas, MB
Published in: Nat Ecol Evol
July 2020

Insecticide-treated bed nets reduce malaria transmission by limiting contact between mosquito vectors and human hosts when mosquitoes feed during the night. However, malaria vectors can also feed in the early evening and in the morning when people are not protected. Here, we explored how the timing of blood feeding interacts with environmental temperature to influence the capacity of Anopheles mosquitoes to transmit the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. In laboratory experiments, we found no effect of biting time itself on the proportion of mosquitoes that became infectious (vector competence) at constant temperature. However, when mosquitoes were maintained under more realistic fluctuating temperatures, there was a significant increase in competence for mosquitoes feeding in the evening (18:00), and a significant reduction in competence for those feeding in the morning (06:00), relative to those feeding at midnight (00:00). These effects appear to be due to thermal sensitivity of malaria parasites during the initial stages of parasite development within the mosquito, and the fact that mosquitoes feeding in the evening experience cooling temperatures during the night, whereas mosquitoes feeding in the morning quickly experience warming temperatures that are inhibitory to parasite establishment. A transmission dynamics model illustrates that such differences in competence could have important implications for malaria prevalence, the extent of transmission that persists in the presence of bed nets, and the epidemiological impact of behavioural resistance. These results indicate that the interaction of temperature and feeding behaviour could be a major ecological determinant of the vectorial capacity of malaria mosquitoes.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Nat Ecol Evol

DOI

EISSN

2397-334X

Publication Date

July 2020

Volume

4

Issue

7

Start / End Page

940 / 951

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Temperature
  • Mosquito Control
  • Malaria
  • Insecticide-Treated Bednets
  • Humans
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Animals
  • 4104 Environmental management
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 3103 Ecology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Suh, E., Grossman, M. K., Waite, J. L., Dennington, N. L., Sherrard-Smith, E., Churcher, T. S., & Thomas, M. B. (2020). The influence of feeding behaviour and temperature on the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria. Nat Ecol Evol, 4(7), 940–951. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1182-x
Suh, Eunho, Marissa K. Grossman, Jessica L. Waite, Nina L. Dennington, Ellie Sherrard-Smith, Thomas S. Churcher, and Matthew B. Thomas. “The influence of feeding behaviour and temperature on the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria.Nat Ecol Evol 4, no. 7 (July 2020): 940–51. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1182-x.
Suh E, Grossman MK, Waite JL, Dennington NL, Sherrard-Smith E, Churcher TS, et al. The influence of feeding behaviour and temperature on the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria. Nat Ecol Evol. 2020 Jul;4(7):940–51.
Suh, Eunho, et al. “The influence of feeding behaviour and temperature on the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria.Nat Ecol Evol, vol. 4, no. 7, July 2020, pp. 940–51. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/s41559-020-1182-x.
Suh E, Grossman MK, Waite JL, Dennington NL, Sherrard-Smith E, Churcher TS, Thomas MB. The influence of feeding behaviour and temperature on the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria. Nat Ecol Evol. 2020 Jul;4(7):940–951.

Published In

Nat Ecol Evol

DOI

EISSN

2397-334X

Publication Date

July 2020

Volume

4

Issue

7

Start / End Page

940 / 951

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Temperature
  • Mosquito Control
  • Malaria
  • Insecticide-Treated Bednets
  • Humans
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Animals
  • 4104 Environmental management
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 3103 Ecology