Aedes albopictus has not become the dominant species in artificial container habitats in a temperate forest more than a decade after establishment

Aedes albopictus (Skuse) is one of the most invasive species globally, and has led to rapid declines and local extirpations of resident mosquitoes where it becomes established. A potential mechanism behind these displacements is the superior competitive ability of Ae. albopictus in larval habitats. Research on the context-dependent nature of competitive displacement predicts that Ae. albopictus will not replace native Aedes triseriatus (Say) in treeholes but could do so in artificial container habitats. Ae. albopictus remains rare in temperate treeholes but less is known about how Ae. albopictus fares in artificial containers in forests. Tyson Research Center (TRC) is a field station composed of mostly oak-hickory forest located outside Saint Louis, MO. The container community has been studied regularly at TRC since 2007 with permanently established artificial containers on the property since 2013. Ae. albopictus was detected each year these communities were sampled; however, its abundance remains low and it fails to numerically dominate other species in these communities. We present data that show Ae. albopictus numbers have not increased in the last decade. We compare egg counts from 2007 and 2016 and combine larval sample data from 2012-2017.We present average larval densities and prevalence of Ae. albopictus and two competitors, Ae. triseriatus and Aedes japonicus (Theobald) as well as monthly averages by year. These data highlight a circumstance in which Ae. albopictus fails to dominate the Aedes community despite it doing so in more human-impacted habitats. We present hypotheses for these patterns based upon abiotic and biotic environmental conditions.

白纹伊蚊（Aedes albopictus，Skuse）是全球最具入侵性的物种之一，当其成功定殖后，会导致入侵地本地蚊虫种群快速下降甚至局部灭绝。这类种群替代现象背后的潜在机制，是白纹伊蚊在幼虫生境中具备更强的竞争能力。针对竞争替代的环境依赖性研究预测，白纹伊蚊无法在树穴生境中替代本地的三列伊蚊（Aedes triseriatus，Say），但在人工容器生境中则有可能实现种群替代。目前白纹伊蚊在温带树穴生境中仍较为罕见，但学界对其在森林内人工容器生境中的生存表现尚缺乏足够了解。泰森研究中心（Tyson Research Center, TRC）是一处野外台站，其主体区域位于密苏里州圣路易斯郊外，以栎-山胡桃林为主。自2007年起，研究人员便定期对该站点的容器蚊虫群落展开监测，并于2013年在园区内永久布设了一批人工容器。自采样工作开展以来，每年均可在该群落中检测到白纹伊蚊的存在，但其种群丰度始终处于较低水平，未能在群落中形成数量上的优势。本数据集所呈现的数据表明，近十年来白纹伊蚊的种群数量并未出现增长。我们对比了2007年与2016年的卵块计数结果，并整合了2012-2017年的幼虫采样数据。数据集包含白纹伊蚊及其两种竞争者——三列伊蚊和日本伊蚊（Aedes japonicus，Theobald）的平均幼虫密度、种群流行率，以及按年份统计的月度平均值。这些数据揭示了一种特殊情形：尽管白纹伊蚊在受人类活动干扰更强的栖息地中能够占据伊蚊群落的优势地位，但在本研究站点却未能实现种群主导。我们基于非生物与生物环境条件，针对上述观测到的种群格局提出了相关假说。