Lyimo, I.N., Keegan, S.P. , Ranford-Cartwright, L.C. and Ferguson, H.M. (2012) The impact of uniform and mixed species blood meals on the fitness of the mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae s.s: does a specialist pay for diversifying its host species diet? Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 25(3), pp. 452-460. (doi: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02442.x) (PMID:22221693)
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Abstract
We investigated the fitness consequences of specialization in an organism whose host choice has an immense impact on human health: the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae s.s. We tested whether this mosquito’s specialism on humans can be attributed to the relative fitness benefits of specialist vs. generalist feeding strategies by contrasting their fecundity and survival on human-only and mixed host diets consisting of blood meals from humans and animals. When given only one blood meal, An. gambiae s.s. survived significantly longer on human and bovine blood, than on canine or avian blood. However, when blood fed repeatedly, there was no evidence that the fitness of An. gambiae s.s. fed a human-only diet was greater than those fed generalist diets. This suggests that the adoption of generalist host feeding strategies in An. gambiae s.s. is not constrained by intraspecific variation in the resource quality of blood from other available host species.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Ranford-Cartwright, Dr Lisa and Keegan, Dr Shaun and Ferguson, Professor Heather |
| Authors: | Lyimo, I.N., Keegan, S.P., Ranford-Cartwright, L.C., and Ferguson, H.M. |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QL Zoology |
| College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine |
| Research Group: | IBAHCM |
| Journal Name: | Journal of Evolutionary Biology |
| Journal Abbr.: | J. evol. biol. |
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| ISSN: | 1010-061X |
| ISSN (Online): | 1420-9101 |
| Published Online: | 04 January 2012 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2012 Wiley-Blackwell |
| First Published: | First published in Journal of Evolutionary Biology 2012 25(3):452-460 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher |
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