LARVAL MOSQUITO FEEDING AND MICROBIAL INTERACTIONS

世界范围内蚊媒疾病发病率上升的亮点 蚊子对公众健康的重要性。蚊子的问题 对杀虫剂的抗药性，对杀虫剂使用的环境担忧， 寄生虫对药物的抗药性，疫苗开发进展缓慢 这表明迫切需要新的媒介管理工具。 针对水生生物的控制方法的开发与应用 蚊子幼虫阶段(例如，蚊子摄入的有毒物质 幼虫)需要对摄食行为有透彻的了解， 幼虫的作用机制和食物来源。食物和食物之间的联系 幼虫栖息地的营养限制及其对成虫生长的影响 蚊子适合性和生产强调幼虫的重要性 取食生态对成虫媒介能力的影响。考虑到这些关系， 这项建议的具体目的如下：(1)确定 蚊子幼虫可利用的营养物质种类和食物来源 在自然生境(沼泽、树洞、轮胎)中；(2)检查 从实验上看，限制营养素、微生物 生物量和多样性，以及表面微层水对蚊子的影响 三色伊蚊和按蚊的生长和成蚊产卵 (3)观察其取食机制和变化。 伊蚊和按蚊幼虫对不同条件下的取食行为 食物资源和与其自然环境相关的物理因素 栖息地。我们选择用于研究的物种和栖息地是广泛的 其他环境中蚊子栖息地关系的代表。 实验室和现场试验包括以下方法：(1) 食品和营养素的化学和微生物特性 幼虫的栖息地，特别是蛋白质，必需脂肪酸， 碳水化合物、碳和氮、微生物生物量和微生物 多样性；(2)细菌的分离和鉴定(形成蚊子 食物)来自栖息地，使用选择性和非选择性介质，以及现代 基于Biolog(碳源利用)和 MIDI(脂肪酸甲酯)体系；(3)实验操作 与蚊虫生长和成虫有关的生境中的微生物生物量 生产；(4)试验性补充必需脂肪酸和 测量蚊子生长反应的蛋白质；(5) 表面微层对按蚊生长的影响；(6)食物颗粒 按蚊接受/拒绝阈值：颗粒类型、大小、 风味是多种多样的；(7)微电影和视频分析 按蚊幼虫的水动力和摄食深度分布；和(8) 伊蚊幼虫对不同分布食物资源的定向。

The increasing incidence of mosquito-borne diseases world-wide highlights the importance of mosquitoes to public health. Problems with mosquito resistance to insecticides, environmental concerns about insecticide use, parasite resistance to drugs, and slow progress in vaccine development indicate that new tools for vector management are badly needed. Development and application of control methods directed at the aquatic, larval stage of mosquitoes (e.g., toxic agents that are ingested by larvae) requires a thorough understanding of the feeding behavior, mechanisms, and food resources of larvae. The links between food and nutrient limitation in larval habitats and impact on larval growth, adult mosquito fitness and production emphasize the importance of larval feeding ecology to adult vectorial capacity. Given these relationships, the specific aims of this proposal are as follows: (1) to characterize the classes of nutrients and food resources available to mosquito larvae in natural habitats (marshes, tree holes, tires); (2) to examine experimentally the relationships between limiting nutrients, microbial biomass and diversity, and surface microlayer water fractions to mosquito growth and adult mosquito production for Aedes triseriatus, and Anopheles guadrimaculatus; (3) to examine the feeding mechanisms and changes in feeding behavior of larval Aedes and Anopheles in response to different food resources and physical factors associated with their natural habitats. The species and habitats we have chosen for study are broadly representative of mosquito-habitat relationships in other settings. Laboratory and field experiments include the following approaches: (1) Chemical and microbiological characterization of foods and nutrients in larval habitats, specifically proteins, essential fatty acids, carbohydrates, carbon and nitrogen, microbial biomass, and microbial diversity; (2) isolation and identification of bacteria (forming mosquito food) from habitats using selective and nonselective media, and modern identification methods based upon BIOLOG (carbon source utilization) and MIDI (fatty acid methyl ester) systems; (3) experimental manipulations of microbial biomass in habitats related to mosquito growth and adult production; (4) experimental supplementation of essential fatty acids and protein to measure mosquito growth responses; (5) importance of the surface microlayers to Anopheles growth; (6) food particle acceptance/rejection thresholds of Anopheles when particle type, size, flavor are varied; (7) microcinematographic and video analysis of hydrodynamics and feeding depth profiles of Anopheles, larvae; and (8) orientation of Aedes larvae to variably distributed food resources.