Speaker
Description
Mosquito-borne diseases are increasing in incidence and geographic range, renewing interest in how mosquito behavior shapes disease transmission. One unresolved issue is how disturbed feeding affects transmission. Many models assume that mosquito biting can be represented by a single, constant contact rate, implicitly treating feeding as instantaneous and always successful. In reality, defensive behaviors interrupt blood-feeding, causing a mosquito to leave without completing its blood meal. In this case, the mosquito may need to feed on additional hosts, thereby increasing the number of contacts per reproductive cycle.
Combining laboratory experiments with mathematical modeling, this project revisits the common modeling assumption that biting should be represented by a single, constant contact rate. With video tracking, we measure how disturbance affects the duration and success of different feeding stages in Aedes aegypti. We track whether mosquitoes persist in feeding, abandon it, or otherwise change their behavior in response to disruption. The resulting measurements are used to parameterize a model that treats blood-feeding as a sequence of behaviors rather than as a single event. By focusing on variation in feeding behavior among individual mosquitoes, this study explores how disturbed feeding may influence vectorial capacity and outbreak risk. The study aims to connect individual-level behavior to population-level patterns of mosquito-borne disease transmission.
