@article{e6f00904bc3e4358ae2e8aed4411b1aa,
title = "Larval sites of the mosquito Aedes aegypti formosus in forest and domestic habitats in Africa and the potential association with oviposition evolution",
abstract = "Adaptations to anthropogenic domestic habitats contribute to the success of the mosquito Aedes aegypti as a major global vector of several arboviral diseases. The species inhabited African forests before expanding into domestic habitats and spreading to other continents. Despite a well-studied evolutionary history, how this species initially moved into human settlements in Africa remains unclear. During this initial habitat transition, African Ae. aegypti switched their larval sites from natural water containers like tree holes to artificial containers like clay pots. Little is known about how these natural versus artificial containers differ in their characteristics. Filling this knowledge gap could provide valuable information for studying the evolution of Ae. aegypti associated with larval habitat changes. As an initial effort, in this study, we characterized the microenvironments of Ae. aegypti larval sites in forest and domestic habitats in two African localities: La Lop{\'e}, Gabon, and Rabai, Kenya. Specifically, we measured the physical characteristics, microbial density, bacterial composition, and volatile chemical profiles of multiple larval sites. In both localities, comparisons between natural containers in the forests and artificial containers in the villages revealed significantly different microenvironments. We next examined whether the between-habitat differences in larval site microenvironments lead to differences in oviposition, a key behavior affecting larval distribution. Forest Ae. aegypti readily accepted the artificial containers we placed in the forests. Laboratory choice experiments also did not find distinct oviposition preferences between forest and village Ae. aegypti colonies. These results suggested that African Ae. aegypti are likely generalists in their larval site choices. This flexibility to accept various containers with a wide range of physical, microbial, and chemical conditions might allow Ae. aegypti to use human-stored water as fallback larval sites during dry seasons, which is hypothesized to have initiated the domestic evolution of Ae. aegypti.",
keywords = "Aedes aegypti, Africa, forest and domestic habitat, larval site, microenvironment, oviposition preference",
author = "Siyang Xia and Dweck, {Hany K.M.} and Joel Lutomiah and Rosemary Sang and McBride, {Carolyn S.} and Rose, {Noah H.} and Diego Ayala and Powell, {Jeffrey R.}",
note = "Funding Information: We appreciate the collaboration and the support from Institut de Recherche pour le D{\'e}veloppement (IRD) and the research Unit ESV‐GAB at the Centre International de Recherches M{\'e}dicales de Franceville (CIRMF) in Gabon, and Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Kenya during the fieldwork. We are grateful to all the field assistants and scientists in the field, especially Nil Rahola and Marc F. Ngangue in La Lop{\'e} and Rotich Gilbert in Rabai. In addition, we thank Andrew Goodman and his lab for providing primers for bacterial amplicon sequencing and helpful guidance in library preparation. We also thank Nanxi Lu for the instructions on bioinformatic analysis of the sequencing results. We received a lot of technical support and training from the Yale Center for Genome Analysis (YCGA) on Illumina sequencing, the West Campus Analytic Core on GC‐MS, and the Yale West Campus Imaging Core on fluorescent microscopes, and we are grateful for all the support. The design of the laboratory experiments benefited greatly from the helpful discussions with Luciano Cosme, Ryan Joseph, and Lisa Baik. We appreciate all the valuable discussions, suggestions, and feedback from Gisella Caccone, Tom Chiodo, Benjamin Evans, Stephen Gaughran, Andrea Gloria‐Soria, Evelyn Jensen, Panagiota Kotsakiozi, Joshua Miller, Evlyn Pless, Maud Quinzin, Norah Saarman, Samuel Snow, and John Soghigian. We also want to thank members of the McBride lab at Princeton University for valuable feedback and discussions, and we are grateful for the advice and guidance from Stephen Stearns, John Carlson, and Alvaro Sanchez. Lastly, we thank the advice and comments from the editor and the reviewers that improved this manuscript. The fieldwork in La Lop{\'e} was approved by the CENAREST with the authorization AR0013/16/MESRS/CENAREST/CG/CST/CSAR, and by the La Lop{\'e} National Parks with the authorization AE16008/PR/ANPN/SE/CS/AEPN. The human landing capture was approved by the National Research Ethics Committee of Gabon under the protocol 0031/2014/SG/CNE. The fieldwork in Rabai was approved by the Kenya Medical Research Institute Scientific and Ethical Review Unit with the authorization KEMRI/SERU/3433. Import of colonies were authorized by USDA Veterinary Permit 103356. This work was supported by NIH RO1 AI101112 to JRP and YIBS Small Grants Program, Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Awards to SX. Ae. aegypti Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",
year = "2021",
month = nov,
doi = "10.1002/ece3.8332",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "11",
pages = "16327--16343",
journal = "Ecology and Evolution",
issn = "2045-7758",
publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Ltd",
number = "22",
}