More than blood- mosquito plant-feeding and its implications for pollination and pathogen transmission

Mosquitoes are well-known as vectors of important pathogens, with significant impact on human and animal health. There is, however, a fundamental part of mosquito biology that is largely unknown: plant-feeding.

All mosquitoes feed on plants to obtain energy, and the plant-meal may influence several aspects of mosquito fitness and ability to transmit pathogens.

Like any other flower visiting insect, mosquitoes also have the potential to contribute to ecosystem services such as pollination.

While our understanding of plant-feeding in a few tropical species is improving, little is known about plant-feeding in mosquitoes of northern Europe.

Here, mosquitoes are highly abundant and may have a more important pollinator role, since e.g., bees are less common at lower temperatures. In addition, several mosquito-borne pathogens are endemic in the Nordic countries.

To increase the knowledge of how plant-feeding influences pollination and pathogen transmission performed by mosquitoes this project aims to:1 Define mosquito preferences for different plant hosts.2 Define the role of mosquitoes as pollinators.3 Evaluate the role of plant-feeding in pathogen transmission by mosquitoes.This will be accomplished by laboratory and field-experiments, as well as field-collections and observations of flower-visiting mosquitoes, followed by analyses to confirm feeding and pollen deposits.

This project will extend the knowledge of mosquitoes beyond their role as vectors and a cause of nuisance.