Assessing the role of plant invasions in mosquito-borne disease risk
Supervisors
Dr Ross Cuthbert, Queens University Belfast
Dr Emilie Pondeville, University of Glasgow
Prof Eric Morgan, Queens University Belfast
Summary
Environmental changes are linked to the aggravation of mosquito-borne disease risks worldwide. The introduction, establishment, and spread of non-native plants is a major symptom of environmental change that could directly affect the performance of insect vectors like mosquitoes. Through provisioning of additional consumptive and structural resources, invaded aquatic and terrestrial habitats could promote the abundance, fitness, and vectorial capacity of mosquitoes, with implications for the escalation of ‘One Health’ threats. However, causative links between plant invasions and mosquitoes remain neglected. This project addresses this knowledge deficit by examining the potential facilitative links between plant invasions and mosquitoes, considering fundamental concepts, population dynamics, environmental gradients, and vector competence.
Specific aims are to:
- Review and compare text corpuses between mosquito-borne disease and plant invasion topics to identify their parallels and discrepancies and bridge disciplines;
- Investigate the influence of aquatic and terrestrial plant invasions on the abundance, diversity, phenology, and traits of vector mosquitoes, as well as the composition of their microbiota;
- Compare vector competence for pathogens from adult mosquitoes lab-reared from invaded and uninvaded systems;
- Assess differences in environmental profiles between invaded and uninvaded habitats and model their influence on mosquito-borne disease risk.