Mating harassment may boost the effectiveness of the sterile insect technique for Aedes mosquitoes.
Nat Commun
; 15(1): 1980, 2024 Mar 04.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38438367
ABSTRACT
The sterile insect technique is based on the overflooding of a target population with released sterile males inducing sterility in the wild female population. It has proven to be effective against several insect pest species of agricultural and veterinary importance and is under development for Aedes mosquitoes. Here, we show that the release of sterile males at high sterile male to wild female ratios may also impact the target female population through mating harassment. Under laboratory conditions, male to female ratios above 50 to 1 reduce the longevity of female Aedes mosquitoes by reducing their feeding success. Under controlled conditions, blood uptake of females from an artificial host or from a mouse and biting rates on humans are also reduced. Finally, in a field trial conducted in a 1.17 ha area in China, the female biting rate is reduced by 80%, concurrent to a reduction of female mosquito density of 40% due to the swarming of males around humans attempting to mate with the female mosquitoes. This suggests that the sterile insect technique does not only suppress mosquito vector populations through the induction of sterility, but may also reduce disease transmission due to increased female mortality and lower host contact.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Aedes
/
Infertilidade Masculina
Limite:
Animals
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Commun
/
Nature communications
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
China