THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY OF AEDES EGG HATCHING - IMPLICATIONS FOR A MOSQUITO INVASION

1. A recently introduced treehole mosquito from Asia, Aedes albopictus , is spreading throughout eastern North America, especially in tyre-re fuse piles. Previous studies have identified inhibitory effects of lar vae on egg hatch as a potential population regulatory mechanism within Aedes. Larva-egg interactions may also occur between species. This ex periment assesses the ability of larvae of A. albopictus and two possi ble competitors in North America, A.triseriatus and A.aegypti, to supp ress hatching of conspecific and congeneric eggs. 2. We exposed eggs o f each species to varying combinations of larval species and density f or 24 h and assessed subsequent hatch rates. Aedes albopictus eggs exh ibited the lowest level of inhibition when exposed to high larval dens ities; moreover, at the lowest larval density they imposed the most in tense interspecific hatch inhibition. 3. Discretionary hatching in res ponse to larval density may influence community composition by promoti ng the spread of A.albopictus, perhaps even leading to its dominance w ithin North American Aedes communities.