Mosquito Adaptation and Stress

Anopholes mosquito - NIAID http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/vector/Pages/MosquitoQuiz.aspx (13)

The Plasmodium parasite itself is predicted to have few significant responses to climate change. Instead, its vector, mosquitoes, will carry most of the impacts. Anopheles have highly plastic physiological responses, allowing populations to survive in varying climatic and environmental conditions (15). These surviving populations can then continue to spread Malaria.


Surviving Anthropogenic Influence

The Anopheles' adaptation has already helped them survive anthropogenic changes to their environment. For instance, some individuals are genetically more able to deal with insecticide poisoning. Then, when insecticides are used, they create a selective pressure on the population, favoring those individual who are resistant (18). Therefore, populations of Anopheles emerge whose offspring are more resistant to insecticides overall. They have also been shown to adapt to survive in polluted water (4).

This adaptation to varying anthropogenic influence can serve to demonstrate the variation within populations that have helped the Anopheles survive anthropogenic changes in their environment. This suggests that mosquitoes may have the capability to deal with increased anthropogenic influence through climate change and other environmental factors, allowing them to continue to survive and thrive in the future.


Variation in Body Plan

Box Plot Representing Wing Size by Sampling Zone - Alaya et. al. (2011) (2)

Variation in wing size of  mosquitoes have a significant relation to temperature and climate. Ayala et. al. demonstrated that wing size variation is directly related to temperature of environment, as demonstrated in the figure to the right. There is significant variation in the size of the wing, depending on climate, with larger wings being favored in warmer temperatures, along with larger body size. The researchers claim that larger females have the capacity to live longer and bite more often in warmer climates (2). So, in warming climates, an increased body size may increase fitness, allowing continued survival of those populations. Again, this will allow increased spread of Malaria, particularly if these larger species are shown to bite more often than their small-bodied relatives.

Overall, Anopholes mosquitoes have wide variation within their species. These adaptations allows them to survive in a variety of conditions, including changing temperatures and habitats.