A difference in larval mosquito size allows a biocontrol agent to target the invasive species

As the global temperature rises in the coming decades, Aedes albopictus is expected to invade and establish in South East England, where Culex pipiens is currently the most common native mosquito species. Biocontrol measures that use local cyclopoid copepods against Ae. albopictus may be compromised if the copepods prefer alternate Cx. pipiens prey. In this study, I assessed the predation efficiency of Megacyclops viridis copepods against French Ae. albopictus larvae and larvae that hatched from egg rafts of Cx. pipiens collected in South East England. The experiments were conducted at 15°C and 25°C, which are representative of present and future summer temperatures in South East England. Ae. albopictus larvae that survived the course of the experiment in the predator-absent controls were significantly smaller than Cx. pipiens larvae that survived in the absence of predation. The background mortality of Cx. pipiens larvae increased with the ten-degree increase in temperature, and the sm..., ,