Biology subjects

Cator, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Cator, L..

8 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

MIReVTD, a Minimum Information Standard for Reporting Vector Trait Data

Vector-borne diseases pose a persistent and increasing challenge to human, animal, and agricultural systems globally. Mathematical modeling frameworks incorporating vector trait responses are powerful tools to assess risk and predict vector-borne disease impacts. Developing these frameworks and the reliability of their predictions hinge on the availability of experimentally derived vector trait data for model parameterization and inference of the biological mechanisms underpinning transmission. Trait experiments have generated data for many known and potential vector species, but the terminology used across studies is inconsistent, and accompanying publications may share data with insufficient detail for reuse or synthesis. The lack of data standardization can lead to information loss and prohibits analytical comprehensiveness. Here, we present MIReVTD, a Minimum Information standard for Reporting Vector Trait Data. Our reporting checklist balances completeness and labor- intensiveness with the goal of making these important experimental data easier to find and reuse, without onerous effort for scientists generating the data. To illustrate the standard, we provide an example reproducing results from an Aedes aegypti mosquito study.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Divergence of discrete- versus continuous-time calculations of the temperature dependence of maximum population growth rate in a disease vector

O_LIThe temperature dependence of maximal population growth rate (rm) is key to predicting how organisms respond and adapt to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. For organisms with complex life histories, discrete-time matrix projection models (MPMs) can be used to calculate temperature-dependent rm because they directly capture variation in empirically-observed life-history trait values as well as the time delays inherent in those traits. C_LIO_LIHowever, MPM calculations can be laborious and do not capture the continuous nature of time. Temperature-dependent rm calculated from more complex approaches based on delay-differential equation and integral projection models are more accurate but are notoriously difficult to parameterise. Ordinary differential equation-based models (ODEMs) offer a relatively tractable alternative of intermediate complexity but it is largely unknown whether ODEM-based calculations and MPMs broadly agree when the effects of time delays and altered juvenile survival trajectories on temperature-dependent rm are introduced by environmental variation. C_LIO_LIHere we investigate differences in the predicted temperature dependence of rm obtained from an ODE-based model with those calculated from MPMs using high-resolution temperature- and resource dependent life-history trait data for the globally-distributed disease vector, Aedes aegypti. C_LIO_LIWe show that the level of agreement between discrete- and continuous-time representations of temperature-dependent rm can vary with resource availability, and is extremely sensitive to how juvenile survival is characterised. This finding suggests that analytic rm models can consistently provide comparable rm predictions to standard methods except for under severe resource constraints. C_LIO_LIOur study also suggests that all formulations of the intrinsic growth rate of a population may not be equally accurate for all types of organisms in all situations. Furthermore, this studys findings raise questions relating to whether existing mathematical models can be used to predict and understand population-level effects of environmental change. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Variable responses of individual species to tropical forest degradation

The functional stability of ecosystems depends greatly on interspecific differences in responses to environmental perturbation. However, responses to perturbation are not necessarily invariant among populations of the same species, so intraspecific variation in responses might also contribute. Such inter-population response diversity has recently been shown to occur spatially across species ranges, but we lack estimates of the extent to which individual populations across an entire community might have perturbation responses that vary through time. We assess this using 524 taxa that have been repeatedly surveyed for the effects of tropical forest logging at a focal landscape in Sabah, Malaysia. Just 39 % of taxa - all with non-significant responses to forest degradation - had invariant responses. All other taxa (61 %) showed significantly different responses to the same forest degradation gradient across surveys, with 6 % of taxa responding to forest degradation in opposite directions across multiple surveys. Individual surveys had low power (< 80 %) to determine the correct direction of response to forest degradation for one-fifth of all taxa. Recurrent rounds of logging disturbance increased the prevalence of intra-population response diversity, while uncontrollable environmental variation and/or turnover of intraspecific phenotypes generated variable responses in at least 44 % of taxa. Our results show that the responses of individual species to local environmental perturbations are remarkably flexible, likely providing an unrealised boost to the stability of disturbed habitats such as logged tropical forests.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Variation in temperature of peak trait performance will constrain adaptation of arthropod populations to climatic warming.

The capacity of arthropod populations to adapt to long-term climatic warming is uncertain. Here, we combine theory and extensive data on diverse arthropod taxa to show that their rate of thermal adaptation to climatic warming will be constrained in two fundamental ways. First, the rate of thermal adaptation is predicted to be limited by the rate of shift in the temperature of peak performance of four life-history traits in a specific order: juvenile development, adult fecundity, juvenile mortality, and adult mortality. Second, thermal adaptation will be constrained due to differences in the temperature of peak performance among these four traits, which are expected to persist because of trade-offs. By compiling a new global dataset of 61 diverse arthropod species, we find strong evidence that contemporary populations have indeed evolved under these constraints. Our results provide a basis for using relatively feasible trait measurements to predict the adaptive capacity of diverse arthropod populations to climatic warming.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Sex, Age, and Parental Harmonic Convergence Behavior Affect the Immune Performance of Aedes aegypti Offspring

Aedes aegypti is an important vector of several pathogenic arboviruses including dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Innovative approaches to control Aedes populations, involving synthetic transgenic modifications as well as Wolbachia bacteria, appear promising. For the various techniques requiring offspring inheritance of a trait, released males must successfully compete for mating partners against wildtype males. However, very little is known about mechanisms of mate selection in mosquitoes in general and in particular about potential correlations between mating success and offspring immune performance. Harmonic convergence signals have been proposed as a cue for females to predict male quality. We investigated whether offspring of converging parental pairs showed differences in immune competence compared to offspring derived from non-converging parental pairs using three different types of immune assays. We found that offspring immune responses (melanization response and response to a bacterial challenge) differed between offspring from converging and non-converging parents. However, immune responses were shaped by several interacting factors such as sex, age, reproductive status, and parental mating behavior. Parental mating behavior had a stronger effect on the immune response of male offspring than on female offspring. Further, a population of female offspring derived from converging parental pairs reached their peak dengue virus dissemination rate earlier compared to a population of offspring derived from non-converging parental pairs. Our results provide insight into a wide range of selective pressures shaping mosquito immune function. Evolutionary trade-offs between naturally and sexually selected traits can have important implications for disease transmission and control and should be considered in the development of reproductive control strategies.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

Male competition and the evolution of mating and life history traits in experimental populations of Aedes aegypti

Aedes aegypti is an important disease vector and a major target of reproductive control efforts. We manipulated the opportunity for sexual selection in populations of Ae. aegypti by controlling the number of males competing for a single female. Populations exposed to higher levels of male competition rapidly evolved higher male competitive mating success relative to populations evolved in the absence of competition, with an evolutionary response visible after only five generations. We also detected correlated evolution in other important mating and life history traits, such as acoustic signalling, fecundity and body size. Our results indicate that there is ample segregating variation for determinants of male mating competitiveness in wild populations and that increased male mating success trades-off with other important life history traits. The mating conditions imposed on laboratory-reared mosquitoes are likely a significant determinant of male mating success in populations destined for release.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2018

More than a flying syringe: Using functional traits in vector borne disease research

Many important endemic and emerging diseases are vector-borne. The functional traits of vectors affect not just pathogen transmission rates, but also the fitness and population dynamics of these animals themselves. Increasing empirical evidence suggests that vector traits vary significantly at time scales relevant to transmission dynamics. Currently, an understanding of how this variation in key traits impacts transmission is hindered by a lack of both empirical data and theoretical methods for mechanistically incorporating traits into transmission models. Here, we present a framework for incorporating both intrinsic and environment-driven variation in vector traits into empirical and theoretical vector-borne disease research. This framework mechanistically captures the effect of trait variation on vector fitness, the correlation between vector traits, and how these together determine transmission dynamics. We illustrate how trait-based vector-borne disease modelling can make novel predictions, and identify key steps and challenges in the construction, empirical parameterisation and validation of such models, as well as the organization and prioritization of data collection efforts.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

Minimum Information for Reusable Arthropod Abundance Data (MIReAAD)

Introduction Introduction Discussion Conclusion References Arthropods play a dominant role in the dynamics of practically all natural and human-modified terrestrial ecosystems1-3, and have significant economic and health effects. For example, certain insects provide significant economic benefits (e.g. pollination) exceeding $57 billion a year to the United States alone4. Meanwhile, invasive insects cost an estimated $70 billion dollars per year globally5 and insect pests may reduce agricultural harvests by up to 16%, with an equal amount of further losses of harvested goods6. Particularly noteworthy is a subset of arthropods that are disease vectors, transmitting pathogens to and between animals as well as plan ...

ecology↗