Non-consumptive effects of predators on Culex mosquitoes

The study of interactions among medically important mosquitoes, their predators, and their competitors has the potential to offer insight into patterns of vector population and vectored-disease outbreaks.  While the study of consumptive predator effects is fairly common, less attention is paid to non-consumptive effects predators exert on mosquitoes.  In insect species with complex life cycles such as mosquitoes, the impact of stresses in one life stage has consequences for life history traits in subsequent life stages. In addition to measuring the ability of predators to control larval mosquito populations, we investigated the non-consumptive of predators on varying densities of larval Culex mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in a lab setting. Non-consumptive effects of predators were quantified in adult mosquitoes by measuring wing length, longevity and fecundity of surviving adults collected from each treatment. We found data that suggests in addition to being able to control mosquito populations directly via consumption, predators can ultimately help regulate mosquito populations via non-consumptive effects due to effects on adult life history. Consequent field data will allow the investigation of how ecological factors such as predator communities and habitat structure may impact mosquito abundance and survivorship from larval to adult stages which will be the next step in understanding medically important mosquito population mosquito-vectored disease outbreaks.