PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 97 : Toxicology and Disease: Modeling; Dynamics
Wednesday, August 10, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 518 A, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
A state dynamic model of feeding decisions in the disease vectoring mosquito, Anopheles gambiae.
Ma, Brian*,1, Roitberg, Bernard1, 1 Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
ABSTRACT- Feeding decisions are often dependent on the physiological state of an organism. In blood feeding mosquitoes, females have two sources of energy: sugar, which fuels somatic maintenance, and blood, which is used for egg production. Blood protein, however, can also be converted into somatic reserves in the absence of readily available sugar sources. Therefore, a female mosquito faces trade-offs between sugar feeding and blood feeding. In this study, we use a state dynamic programming model to determine the optimal feeding decisions a female Anopheles gambiae mosquito should make to maximize her lifetime reproductive success given the interactions between four physiological states: blood in the midgut, sugar in the crop, nutritional reserves, and the number of matured eggs. We explore the model using a wide range of parameter combinations to mimic different ecological conditions that the mosquitoes may face during their lifetime. The model provides an interesting opportunity to make predictions about several key problems. For instance, under what physiological conditions should a mosquito be most willing to take a sugar meal? When should a mosquito differentiate between hosts of differing quality? Answers to these questions will help to model mosquito behaviour which might be relevant for epidemiological models of the spread of malaria.
Key words: Dynamic state variable model, Mosquito, Feeding behaviour