Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
Zachary Gajewski
Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, United States
Chloe Ramsay
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, United States
Fadoua El Moustaid
Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, United States
Michelle V Evans
Odum School of Ecology & Center for Ecology of Infectious Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, United States; MIVEGEC, IRD, CNRS, Université Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Trishna Desai
Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Nicole L Gottdenker
Odum School of Ecology & Center for Ecology of Infectious Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, United States; Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, Athens, United States
Sara L Hermann
Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
Alison G Power
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
Andrew C McCall
Biology Department, Denison University, Granville, United States
Predator-prey interactions influence prey traits through both consumptive and non-consumptive effects, and variation in these traits can shape vector-borne disease dynamics. Meta-analysis methods were employed to generate predation effect sizes by different categories of predators and mosquito prey. This analysis showed that multiple families of aquatic predators are effective in consumptively reducing mosquito survival, and that the survival of Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex mosquitoes is negatively impacted by consumptive effects of predators. Mosquito larval size was found to play a more important role in explaining the heterogeneity of consumptive effects from predators than mosquito genus. Mosquito survival and body size were reduced by non-consumptive effects of predators, but development time was not significantly impacted. In addition, Culex vectors demonstrated predator avoidance behavior during oviposition. The results of this meta-analysis suggest that predators limit disease transmission by reducing both vector survival and vector size, and that associations between drought and human West Nile virus cases could be driven by the vector behavior of predator avoidance during oviposition. These findings are likely to be useful to infectious disease modelers who rely on vector traits as predictors of transmission.
