Explaining the Host-Finding Behavior of Blood-Sucking Insects: Computerized Simulation of the Effects of Habitat Geometry on Tsetse Fly Movement
Tsetse flies and other blood-sucking insects spread devastating diseases of humans and livestock. We must understand the host-finding behavior of these vectors to assess their epidemiological importance and to design optimal bait methods for controlling or sampling them. Unfortunately, mysteries abo...
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| Format: | Online |
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Public Library of Science
2014
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4055578/ |
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pubmed-40555782014-06-18 Explaining the Host-Finding Behavior of Blood-Sucking Insects: Computerized Simulation of the Effects of Habitat Geometry on Tsetse Fly Movement Vale, Glyn A. Hargrove, John W. Solano, Philippe Courtin, Fabrice Rayaisse, Jean-Baptiste Lehane, Michael J. Esterhuizen, Johan Tirados, Inaki Torr, Stephen J. Research Article Tsetse flies and other blood-sucking insects spread devastating diseases of humans and livestock. We must understand the host-finding behavior of these vectors to assess their epidemiological importance and to design optimal bait methods for controlling or sampling them. Unfortunately, mysteries abound in the host-finding behavior of tsetse. For example, it is strange that visual cues are more important for species found in riverine habitats, where dense vegetation restricts the range of visual stimuli, whereas olfactory cues are more important for species occurring in open savannah. To explain this paradox, we used a deterministic model which showed that restricted riverine habitats can reduce tsetse movement by up to ∼70%. This, and the fact that movement increases with fly size, can explain why savannah tsetse, especially the larger ones, rely relatively greatly on olfactory cues, are particularly available to large stationary baits, are repelled by humans, and often investigate baits only briefly without alighting on them. The results also explain why tiny, inexpensive, and odorless baits can control riverine tsetse effectively, whereas larger odor-baited devices are needed against savannah tsetse. These findings have important bearings on the study of host-finding behavior in other blood-sucking insects, including mosquitoes. Public Library of Science 2014-06-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4055578/ /pubmed/24921243 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002901 Text en © 2014 Vale et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Vale, Glyn A. Hargrove, John W. Solano, Philippe Courtin, Fabrice Rayaisse, Jean-Baptiste Lehane, Michael J. Esterhuizen, Johan Tirados, Inaki Torr, Stephen J. |
| spellingShingle |
Vale, Glyn A. Hargrove, John W. Solano, Philippe Courtin, Fabrice Rayaisse, Jean-Baptiste Lehane, Michael J. Esterhuizen, Johan Tirados, Inaki Torr, Stephen J. Explaining the Host-Finding Behavior of Blood-Sucking Insects: Computerized Simulation of the Effects of Habitat Geometry on Tsetse Fly Movement |
| author_facet |
Vale, Glyn A. Hargrove, John W. Solano, Philippe Courtin, Fabrice Rayaisse, Jean-Baptiste Lehane, Michael J. Esterhuizen, Johan Tirados, Inaki Torr, Stephen J. |
| author_sort |
Vale, Glyn A. |
| title |
Explaining the Host-Finding Behavior of Blood-Sucking Insects: Computerized Simulation of the Effects of Habitat Geometry on Tsetse Fly Movement |
| title_short |
Explaining the Host-Finding Behavior of Blood-Sucking Insects: Computerized Simulation of the Effects of Habitat Geometry on Tsetse Fly Movement |
| title_full |
Explaining the Host-Finding Behavior of Blood-Sucking Insects: Computerized Simulation of the Effects of Habitat Geometry on Tsetse Fly Movement |
| title_fullStr |
Explaining the Host-Finding Behavior of Blood-Sucking Insects: Computerized Simulation of the Effects of Habitat Geometry on Tsetse Fly Movement |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Explaining the Host-Finding Behavior of Blood-Sucking Insects: Computerized Simulation of the Effects of Habitat Geometry on Tsetse Fly Movement |
| title_sort |
explaining the host-finding behavior of blood-sucking insects: computerized simulation of the effects of habitat geometry on tsetse fly movement |
| description |
Tsetse flies and other blood-sucking insects spread devastating diseases of humans and livestock. We must understand the host-finding behavior of these vectors to assess their epidemiological importance and to design optimal bait methods for controlling or sampling them. Unfortunately, mysteries abound in the host-finding behavior of tsetse. For example, it is strange that visual cues are more important for species found in riverine habitats, where dense vegetation restricts the range of visual stimuli, whereas olfactory cues are more important for species occurring in open savannah. To explain this paradox, we used a deterministic model which showed that restricted riverine habitats can reduce tsetse movement by up to ∼70%. This, and the fact that movement increases with fly size, can explain why savannah tsetse, especially the larger ones, rely relatively greatly on olfactory cues, are particularly available to large stationary baits, are repelled by humans, and often investigate baits only briefly without alighting on them. The results also explain why tiny, inexpensive, and odorless baits can control riverine tsetse effectively, whereas larger odor-baited devices are needed against savannah tsetse. These findings have important bearings on the study of host-finding behavior in other blood-sucking insects, including mosquitoes. |
| publisher |
Public Library of Science |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4055578/ |
| _version_ |
1612100463597977600 |