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11 February 2021 Field Evidence of Mosquito Population Regulation by a Gregarine Parasite
John Soghigian, Todd Livdahl
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Abstract

Although parasites are by definition costly to their host, demonstrating that a parasite is regulating its host abundance in the field can be difficult. Here we present an example of a gregarine parasite, Ascogregarina taiwanensis Lien and Levine (Apicomplexa: Lecudinidae), regulating its mosquito host, Aedes albopictus Skuse (Diptera: Culicidae), in Bermuda. We sampled larvae from container habitats over 2 yr, assessed parasite prevalence, and estimated host abundance from egg counts obtained in neighboring ovitraps. We regressed change in average egg count from 1 yr to the next on parasite prevalence and found a significant negative effect of parasite prevalence. We found no evidence of host density affecting parasite prevalence. Our results demonstrate that even for a parasite with moderate virulence, host regulation can occur in the field.

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
John Soghigian and Todd Livdahl "Field Evidence of Mosquito Population Regulation by a Gregarine Parasite," Journal of Medical Entomology 58(3), 1188-1196, (11 February 2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjab009
Received: 24 November 2020; Accepted: 23 December 2020; Published: 11 February 2021
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KEYWORDS
Aedes
host
mosquito
parasite
population regulation
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