Vector bionomics and vectorial capacity as emergent properties of mosquito behaviors and ecology

Mosquitoes are important vectors for pathogens that infect humans and
other vertebrate animals. Some aspects of adult mosquito behavior and
mosquito ecology play an important role in determining the capacity of
vector populations to transmit pathogens. Here, we re-examine factors
affecting the transmission of pathogens by mosquitoes using a new
approach. Unlike most previous models, this framework considers the
behavioral states and state transitions of adult mosquitoes through a
sequence of activity bouts. We developed a new framework for
individual-based simulation models called MBITES (Mosquito Bout-based and
Individual-based Transmission Ecology Simulator). In MBITES, it is
possible to build models that simulate the behavior and ecology of adult
mosquitoes in exquisite detail on complex resource landscapes generated by
spatial point processes. We also developed an ordinary differential
equation model which is the Kolmogorov forward equations for models
developed in MBITES under a specific set of simplifying assumptions. While
mosquito infection and pathogen development are one possible part of a
mosquito's state, that is not our main focus. Using extensive
simulation using some models developed in MBITES, we show that vectorial
capacity can be understood as an emergent property of simple behavioral
algorithms interacting with complex resource landscapes, and that relative
density or sparsity of resources and the need to search can have profound
consequences for mosquito populations' capacity to transmit
pathogens.