Alteration of plant-species assemblages can decrease the transmission potential of malaria mosquitoes

1. Knowledge of the link between a vector population’s pathogen-transmission potential and its biotic environment can generate more realistic forecasts of disease risk due to environmental change. It also can promote more effective vector control by both conventional and novel means 2. The present study assessed the effect of particular plant-species assemblages differing in nectar production on components of the vectorial capacity of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae s.s., an important vector of African malaria. 3. We followed cohorts of mosquitoes for 3 weeks in greenhouse mesocosms holding nectar-poor and nectar-rich plant species, by tracking daily mortalities and estimating daily biting rates and fecundities. At death, a mosquito’s insemination status and wing length were determined. These life-history traits allowed incorporation of larval dynamics into a vectorial capacity estimate. This new study provided both novel assemblages of putative host plants and a human blood host within ...