The effect of dengue infection and humidity on the thermal preferences of Aedes albopictus

Each year, mosquito-borne disease impacts more than 700 million people globally, causing over 1 million deaths. With rising global temperatures, mosquitoes have been able to invade new habitats outside their native ranges, shifting the areas where transmission can occur and exposing new populations to risk. Understanding how ectotherms that vector disease, such as mosquitoes, respond to current and future environmental change has implications for their distributions and the transmission of mosquito-borne pathogens. When confronted with environmental change, ectotherms like mosquitoes, can change their behavior to optimize the conditions they experience and fitness outcomes. In this study, we determine if female Aedes albopictus, an invasive species and vector of several arboviruses, are behaviorally optimizing the microclimate they experience while resting in lab conditions. We use a thermal gradient and computer vision to explore thermal preferences of mosquitoes across different humidity conditions. We also determine if thermal preferences of mosquitoes infected with dengue change throughout the infection cycle. If mosquitoes are selecting specific temperatures, this could fundamentally change disease transmission. Models used to predict changes in mosquito-borne disease in the face of climate change that do not account for mosquito behavior are likely over- and under-estimating suitability which could result in the misallocation of finite public health resources. By better understanding how mosquitoes are selecting habitats, we can target control efforts to specific habitats and populations at risk.