Invited Symposium Presentation Submission

Factors Allowing for the Transmission of Vector-Borne Viruses: Vector Competence, Vertebrate Host Competence, and Environmental Factors Symposium

Session: Factors Allowing for the Transmission of Vector-Borne Viruses: Vector Competence, Vertebrate Host Competence, and Environmental Factors Symposium

51 - Unraveling the complex influence of environmental temperature on vectorial capacity of mosquitoes for arboviruses

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

5:02pm – 5:16pm

Location: Carson 1

Presenter(s)

AC

Alexander Ciota, Ph.D.

Arbovirus Laboratory, Wadsworth Center, NYS Dept of Health
Slingerlands, New York, United States

Abstract: The intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) has reported a 1.1°C increase in global temperatures since the mid-1800s, with accelerating warming noted in each of the last four decades. Although the impacts of climate change on public health are far-reaching, the biology and ecology of mosquitoes and the pathogens they carry are uniquely influenced by environmental variability. Given that mosquitoes are ectothermic organisms, temperature shifts directly influence numerous aspects of vectorial capacity, the overall transmission potential of a population. Increasing temperatures generally increase arbovirus replication, accelerating extrinsic incubation periods and increasing overall vector competence. Mosquito development is additionally accelerated at increased temperature. The consequence of decreased development time is presumably increased population size, but increased temperature can also increase immature and adult mortality, altered blood feeding, differential mating success and altered hatch rates. Findings from studies evaluating the effects of temperature on adult longevity generally indicate decreased longevity at increased temperatures, to some extent countering increases in transmissibility at higher temperatures resulting from increased development rates and vector competence. Despite the fact most experimental studies have not fully evaluated thermal limits, these relationships are unimodal, implying that how temperature shifts effect arbovirus transmission is dependent on the current conditions of any given population. In addition, while generic trends exist, variability in the relationship between arbovirus transmission and temperature among mosquito species and populations is well documented, implying that distinct mosquito genetics, viral genetics, transcriptomics, immunity and/or microbiota can influence vectorial capacity in ways that can either reinforce or supersede the independent influence of temperature. Lastly, given that transmission is dependent of highly dynamic and evolving biological systems, we must consider how future temperatures could interact with future arbovirus strains and vector populations. Defining these complex relationships is critical to predicting how environmental warming could have region-specific effects on vectorial capacity.