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16 February 2023 Graded Atmospheres of Volatile Pyrethroid Overlaid on Host Cues Can Be Established and Quantified Within a Novel Flight Chamber for Mosquito Behavior Studies
Corey E. Seavey, Mona Doshi, Angelo Colamarino, Brian N. Kim, Andrew K. Dickerson, Bradley J. Willenberg
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Abstract

Spatial repellents are emerging as a promising approach to reduce vector-disease burden; however, the evolution of genetically resistant mosquitoes decreases repellent efficacy. The development of flight chambers to investigate spatial repellent application techniques is vital for sustainable mosquito control. We present an air-dilution chamber as a novel bioassay to study mosquito flight behavior responses to chemical gradients of the volatile, pyrethroid transfluthrin (TF). Air dilution was used to simulate a larger environment of stable concentration gradients verified with carbon dioxide (CO2) which was homogenously delivered and measured across the chamber to achieve a 5× inlet/outlet [CO2] ratio with 0.17 m/s outlet velocity. Female Aedes (Ae.) aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae, Linnaeus, 1762) were exposed to volatilized TF paired with heat, CO2, and Biogents-Sweetscent host-cues. Tandem solvent extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SE-GC-MS) was used to quantify air samples taken during TF emanations with a limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of 2 ± 1 and 5 ± 2 parts-per-trillion (ppt) TF, respectively. Homogenous air diluted emanation of the spatial repellent TF was at least twice that of the 5× CO2 gradient with the same air flow in the chamber. The airborne TF concentrations the mosquitoes were exposed to range from 1 to 170 ppt. Video recordings of mosquito behavior during host-cues exposure revealed increased inlet activity, while exposure to TF protected host resulted in decreased inlet activity over time with inlet-outlet mosquito positional variation. This novel flight chamber design can simulate ‘long’-range exposure with simultaneous quantitation of airborne spatial repellent to understand dose-dependent effects on mosquito behavior.

Corey E. Seavey, Mona Doshi, Angelo Colamarino, Brian N. Kim, Andrew K. Dickerson, and Bradley J. Willenberg "Graded Atmospheres of Volatile Pyrethroid Overlaid on Host Cues Can Be Established and Quantified Within a Novel Flight Chamber for Mosquito Behavior Studies," Environmental Entomology 52(2), 197-209, (16 February 2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvad007
Received: 6 October 2022; Accepted: 26 December 2022; Published: 16 February 2023
JOURNAL ARTICLE
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KEYWORDS
Aedes aegypti
flight chamber
olfactometer
pyrethroid
transfluthrin
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