Journal
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
Volume 56, Issue 11, Pages 2518-2527Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13480
Keywords
contemporary evolution; egg diapause; insect overwintering; invasive disease vector; local adaptation; range expansion; range limit; vector-borne disease risk
Categories
Funding
- Tyson Research Center
- Ying Family Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Rapid adaptation in response to novel environments can facilitate species invasions and range expansions. Understanding how invasive disease vectors rapidly evolve to novel conditions-particularly at the edge of its non-native range-has important implications for mitigating the prevalence and spread of disease. Here, we evaluate the role of local adaptation in overwintering capability of the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus. This species invaded the Southern United States in the 1980s and rapidly spread northward into novel climate compared to its native range. Photoperiodically induced egg diapause is a key trait contributing to the establishment and spread of Ae. albopictus in temperate latitudes, and diapause incidence rapidly developed a cline along a latitudinal gradient in the United States shortly after its initial invasion. However, variation in overwintering survival of diapause-induced eggs along this gradient is not known, but is critical to the fitness-related role of diapause evolution in the establishment of Ae. albopictus in its northern US range. Using reciprocal transplants, we detected local adaptation in overwinter survival of diapausing Aedes albopictus eggs. In northern range-edge winters, eggs produced by range-edge individuals survived better than those produced by range-core individuals. Diapause eggs from range-edge and range-core locations survived equally well in range-core winters, and no eggs survived a winter beyond the current northern range limit in the United States. Synthesis and applications. These results demonstrate rapid (similar to 3 decades) local adaptation of egg diapause, a key trait facilitating overwinter survival and range expansion for the invasive Asian tiger mosquito. In light of these results, control efforts could shift from targeting satellite populations to a focus on preventing dispersal into locally adapted, range-edge locations and to aim removal efforts towards areas surrounding locally adapted populations. Adopting new approaches to target rapidly adapting populations will require large-scale collaboration among control agencies and research institutions, and should begin in the northern US range to better control Aedes albopictus mosquito populations in the face of rapid adaptation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available