UC Riverside

The global disease burden of mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) vectored pathogens is projected to expand under climate and land use change conditions, creating a growing need for research into the interactions between these vectors and the environments they occupy. Two related species, Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse), have become invasive in California and much of the world, creating complex nuisance burdens and potential for novel local transmission of disease. Previous work has implicated water-holding bromeliad plants (Poales: Bromeliaceae) as potential larval habitat, but very few studies have examined their importance or dynamics in the lab or field. This dissertation seeks to address this unknown while providing further insights into the ecology of these ostensibly similar mosquitoes. First, survival of Aedes larvae was modeled against a variety of conditions to characterize species interactions and the viability of plant habitats. Then, multiple larvicides were tested in the bromeliads in both lab and field application scenarios to test if bromeliads can be treated with current products. Finally, the use of bromeliads was confirmed with field oviposition studies before climate and land use data were integrated with mosquito collections to investigate the effect of the environment on the mosquito community. This work revealed that while bromeliads only offer intermediate suitability for Aedes larvae, they play a significant role in species interactions, as Ae. albopictus had superior developmental outcomes in various conditions and oviposited in the plants at a higher rate. This result is especially relevant because while larvicides lasted for much longer in bromeliads than expected, in the field current treatment strategies resulted in low levels of control. Species distribution and niche models highlighted the influence of temperature, precipitation, urbanization, and vegetation on mosquito community structure and abundance, predicting spatial patterns and establishing frameworks for analyzing future mosquito data. Together, these findings highlight the complex interactions between mosquito species, habitat ecology, and environmental conditions, emphasizing the need for continued integrated research into Aedes ecology at every scale. Consideration of these interactions will lead to more effective and ecologically sound responses by public health agencies in California and beyond.