dynamAedes: a unified modelling framework for invasive Aedes mosquitoes

Abstract

Mosquito species belonging to the genus Aedes have attracted the interest of public health officers both for their plastic biology and for their competence and efficient transmission of debilitating viruses. Some of these species were accidentally introduced outside their native areas and subsequently colonised new regions, representing now a threat to public health in all populated continents. Unravelling the physiological and behavioural traits of such species is crucial to understand and predict their spatial and temporal population dynamics, thus helping to direct actions to mitigate invasive Aedes local densities. In the R package dynamAedes, we synthesised the life cycle of four invasive Aedes species (Ae. Aegypti, Ae. Albopictus, Ae. japonicus, and Ae. koreicus) in a single multi-scale, stage-based, and time discrete probabilistic modelling framework, informed and driven by temperature observations and photoperiod length. Temperature-dependent and photoperiod-dependent life-cycle parameters – e.g. egg survival, percentage of diapausing eggs laid – were inferred through data extracted from the scientific literature. dynamAedes can be applied to three different spatial scales: punctual, local, and regional, accounting for both active and passive dispersal of the modelled mosquito species as well as for the heterogeneity of the available temperature datasets. dynamAedes is a flexible open-source tool that could be used for applications related to the management of invasive Aedes populations as well as for more theoretical ecological inquiries.