Aedes mosquitoes and Ascogregarina parasites as models in disease ecology

My work herein highlights the utility of Aedes mosquitoes and Ascogregarina parasites as models in disease ecology. The study of these important disease vectors and parasites common to them in the field is not only important from a public health perspective, but also because they can serve as excellent model organisms in ecology. In chapter one, I exposed host mosquitoes to four dosages of parasites and recorded the effect on both the host and the parasite. I found evidence of mixed dispersal strategies by Ascogregarina taiwanensis wherein parasites are localized more in adult female Aedes albopictus than males, but that the parasite responds to increases in its own density by localizing more in adult males. Further, I demonstrate dosage-related virulence in this system, using both survival and per capita rate of increase of the host. In chapter two, I compared relative populations of Ae. albopictus across sites in Bermuda to prevalence of A. taiwanensis at those sites. I found a negative relationship between parasite prevalence and change in egg count in ovitraps between two years, indicating that A. taiwanensis is regulating its host population size in the field. In chapter three, I used a five gene data set and more than seventy Culicidae species to examine the monophyly of the genus Aedes. My results from two analyses indicated that Aedes is not monophyletic in its current usage.