Outdoor Resting and Sugar Feeding Behaviors of African Malaria Vectors

描述(由申请人提供)：该项目重点研究西非马里疟疾媒介种群的户外休息和食糖行为，与大多数非洲国家一样，那里的疟疾是一个严重的公共卫生问题。了解蚊子在室外环境中的行为正变得越来越重要，因为人们越来越意识到，要成功地控制疟疾并在当地消灭蚊子，需要除仅在室内使用的媒介控制工具之外的其他工具。目前，非洲主要的疟疾媒介物种冈比亚按蚊、冈比亚按蚊和非洲按蚊。Arabiens和An.由于缺乏实地证据，人们对它们的户外休息行为知之甚少，而糖或蜜汁在它们生活史中的作用大多是推测的。此外，休息和喂糖行为可能表现出广泛的表型可塑性，但生态环境作为可能的关键驱动因素的作用尚未被调查。因此，该项目的目标是调查马里不同生态地点的按蚊户外休息和觅糖行为，以确定这些行为与当地季节性变化的环境之间的复杂关系如何影响疟疾传播。马里的实地研究将在撒哈拉以南萨赫勒地区3个主要生态气候区的10个研究地点进行。在媒介种群、季节性恶性疟原虫传播和疟疾流行病学方面，研究地区已经有了很好的特点。该项目以马里和以色列的广泛初步研究为基础，包括三个具体目标：1)描述疟疾媒介物种如何从潜在的室外栖息微生境和食糖中心的不同类型、配置和质量中进行选择，以及如何在行为上适应其当地环境的季节性变化~2)确定对疟疾媒介户外休息和食糖至关重要的当地环境资源如何影响疟疾媒介能力和疟疾寄生虫传播的空间聚集模式~3)制定和评估新的方法和现场标准，以确定室外环境中成年按蚊的密度。创新方面包括：第一，将使用新的野外方法来研究两种重要但被高度忽视的蚊子行为，第二，这是第一次研究蚊子如何适应其在当地环境中的季节性变化来适应它们的户外休息和觅食行为。第三，这个项目将解释户外休息和喂糖行为如何影响媒介生存和疟疾寄生虫传播动力学。第四，将对确定疟疾病媒浓度的新预测模型进行严格的现场测试。 并进行了改进，以提高其准确性和在马里以外的潜在效用。通过为户外环境中控制按蚊媒介的新方法和工具的开发提供强有力的科学基础，该项目具有强大的潜力，帮助马里和其他国家改善疟疾控制，向消灭疟疾的最终目标迈进。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project focuses on the outdoor resting and sugar-feeding behaviors of Anopheles malaria vector populations in Mali, West Africa, where, as in most African countries, malaria is a serious public health problem. An understanding of mosquito behaviors in the outdoor environment is becoming increasingly important because there is a growing awareness that vector control tools beyond those used exclusively inside houses are needed to achieve successful malaria control and local elimination. Currently, for the major malaria vector species in Africa, Anopheles gambiae, An. arabiensis, and An. funestus, there is only limited knowledge on their outdoor resting behavior, and the role of sugar or nectars in their life history is mostly speculated due to a lack of field-based evidence. Furthermore, resting and sugar feeding behaviors likely exhibit extensive phenotypic plasticity but the role of the ecological environment as the possible key driver has not been investigated. Therefore, the goal of this project is to investigate Anopheles mosquito outdoor resting and sugar- feeding behaviors at ecologically diverse sites in Mali to determine how complex relationships between these behaviors and the seasonally changing local environment affect malaria transmission. Field studies in Mali will be conducted at 10 study sites located in 3 major eco-climatic zones that span the sub-Saharan Sahel region. Study areas are already well characterized with respect to vector populations, seasonal Plasmodium falciparum transmission, and malaria epidemiology. This project, which builds on extensive preliminary studies in Mali and Israel, includes three specific aims: 1) Characterize how malaria vector species select from different types, configurations, and qualities of potential outdoor resting microhabitats and sugar-feeding centers, and behaviorally adapt to seasonal changes in their local environment~ 2) Determine how local environmental resources critical for malaria vector outdoor resting and sugar feeding affect malaria vectorial capacity and spatial aggregation patterns of malaria parasite transmission~ and 3) Develop and evaluate new approaches and field-based criteria to identify concentrations of adult anopheline mosquitoes in the outdoor environment. Innovative aspects include: First, new field-based approaches will be used to investigate two important but highly neglected mosquito behaviors, Second, this is the first study to examine how mosquitoes adapt their outdoor-resting and sugar-feeding behaviors in response to seasonal changes in their local environment. Third, this project will explain how outdoor-resting and sugar-feeding behaviors impact vector survival and malaria parasite transmission dynamics. Fourth, new predictive models for identifying concentrations of malaria vectors will be rigorously field-tested and refined to improve their accuracy and potential utility beyond Mali. By providing a strong scientific basis for development of new approaches and tools for anopheline mosquito vector control in outdoor environments, this project has strong potential for helping Mali and other countries improve malaria control and advance toward the ultimate goal of elimination.