Vector bionomics and vectorial capacity as emergent properties of mosquito behaviors and ecology
Year: 2019
Type: preprint
Abstract: Mosquitoes are important vectors for pathogens of humans and other vertebrate animals. Some aspects of adult mosquito behavior and mosquito ecology play an important role in determining the capacity of vector populations to transmit pathogens. Here, we re-examine factors affecting the transmission of pathogens by mosquitoes using a new approach. Unlike most previous models, this framework considers the behavioral states and state transitions of adult mosquitoes through a sequence of activity bouts. We developed a new framework for individual-based simulation models called MBITES (Mosquito Bout-based and Individual-based Transmission Ecology Simulator). In MBITES, it is possible to build models that simulate the behavior and ecology of adult mosquitoes in exquisite detail on complex resource landscapes generated by spatial point processes. We also developed an ordinary differential equation model which is the Kolmogorov forward equations for models developed in MBITES under a specific set of simplifying assumptions. While infection of the mosquito and pathogen development are one possible part of a mosquito’s state, that is not the main focus. Using extensive simulation using some models developed in MBITES, we show that vectorial capacity can be understood as an emergent property of simple behavioral algorithms interacting with complex resource landscapes, and that relative density or sparsity of resources and the need to search can have profound consequences for mosquito populations’ capacity to transmit pathogens.
DOI: 10.1101/790097
Authors: Sean L. Wu, Hector M. Sanchez C., John M. Henry, Daniel T. Citron, Qian Zhang, Kelly Compton, Biyonka Liang, Amit Verma, Derek A.T. Cummings, Arnaud Le Menach, Thomas W. Scott, Anne L. Wilson, Steven W. Lindsay, Catherine L. Moyes, Penny A. Hancock, Tanya L. Russell, Thomas R. Burkot, John M. Marshall, Samson Kiware, Robert C. Reiner, David L. Smith
Institutions: University of California, Berkeley, Tecnológico de Monterrey, University of Washington, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Emory University, University of Florida, Clinton Health Access Initiative, University of California, Davis, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Durham University, University of Oxford, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Ifakara Health Institute
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2978957638