Research proposal-Sensory synergies in mosquito host location behaviour
Project Description: Malaria, which killed nearly half a million people in 2016, is a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. Controlling the insect vector remains the primary method of preventing disease transmission. However, there is a pressing need for new innovations in vector control, as growing evidence suggests existing tools will not be sufficient to eliminate malaria. Many aspects of mosquito behaviour remain unknown, but elucidating these could provide insights that lead to the development of novel and effective interventions against Anopheles vectors, particularly in terms of their behavioural response to a range of human host-associated cues. Recent work from the supervisory team has indicated that visual stimuli are important in host-location behaviour of malaria mosquitoes, despite their nocturnal peak in biting activity occurring under typically low light levels.
This project will further investigate the mechanisms behind the effects of human host-associated cues on mosquito behaviour, with a focus on the primary malaria vector species group Anopheles gambiaesensulato. There is considerable scope to explore a variety of behavioural phenomena related to host-location, but the student is expected to focus on questions related to the following:
• The relative importance of visual, thermal and olfactory stimuli in mosquito host-location behaviour and potential synergistic effects of combined stimuli;
• The spatial scale over which these host-associated stimuli influence behaviour; and
• Whether variations in the attributes of specific stimuli enhance/inhibit mosquito attraction.
The student may wish to carry out a combination of the following types of experiments:
• Insect behaviour: laboratory based experiments using wind tunnel arenas and 3D flight tracking to quantify responses to specific stimuli.
• Field ecology: Field-based behavioural experiments to examine identified behaviours in situ.
• Novel assay techniques: Development and use of new techniques as required by project discoveries and direction of research, optionally including methods in sensory physiology.
