ORCID Profile
0000-0001-6812-3320
Current Organisation
James Cook University
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Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 24-09-2021
DOI: 10.1093/JME/TJAB164
Abstract: Female Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) mosquitoes integrate multiple sensory cues to locate human hosts for blood meals. Although male Ae. aegypti swarm around and land on humans in nature to mate, direct evidence of attraction to humans is limited. Male mosquito attraction to human host cues is often undetectable in confined laboratory assays, leading to a misconception that male mosquitoes are not attracted to humans. We used semifield experiments to demonstrate robust attraction of male Ae. aegypti to humans. Human-baited traps captured up to 25% of released males within 15 min, whereas control traps without humans as bait failed to capture males. Rapid attraction to humans was further demonstrated through videography. Males swarmed around and landed on human subjects, with no activity recorded in paired unbaited controls. Finally, we confirm the lack of discernible male attraction to humans in small laboratory cages. Our experiments demonstrate that both male and female Ae. aegypti show attraction to humans, but with clear sex-specific behavioral differences at short-range. Male mosquito attraction to humans is likely to be important for mating success in wild populations and its basis should be further explored. Our results highlight the importance of arena size and assay design for mosquito behavioral research. A better understanding of host cues that attract males could help us to improve mosquito surveillance and control.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 26-06-2019
Abstract: In this perspective, I discuss the great eras of vector control, centring on Aedes aegypti , the primary vector of dengue, Zika and several other viruses. Since the discovery and acceptance of the role of mosquitoes as vectors of disease agents, several significant strategies have been developed and deployed to control them and the diseases they transmit. Environmental management, insecticides and, to a lesser extent, biological control have emerged as great eras of vector control. In the past decade, the release of massive numbers of specifically modified mosquitoes that mate with wild populations has emerged as a significant new strategy to fight vector-borne diseases. These reared and released mosquitoes have been modified by the addition of a symbiont (e.g. Wolbachia bacteria), radiation or introduction of a genetic construct to either sterilize the wild mosquitoes they mate with, crashing the population, or to reduce the wild population's capacity to vector pathogens. Will these new rear and release strategies become the next great era of vector control? From my vantage point as a dengue control manager and researcher involved in two Wolbachia programmes, I will discuss the hurdles that rear and release programmes face to gain widespread acceptance and success.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 13-04-2016
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 18-01-2021
DOI: 10.1093/JME/TJAA292
Abstract: The dengue viruses (DENVs) occur throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world where they infect 100s of millions of people annually. In Australia, the dengue receptive zone is confined to the northern state of Queensland where the principal vector Aedes aegypti (L.) is present. In the current study, two populations of Ae. aegypti from north Queensland were exposed to two urban outbreak strains and one sylvatic strain of dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2). The titer of virus required to infect 50% of mosquitoes was between 105 and 106 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID)50/ml and was influenced by the combination of the origin of Ae. aegypti population and virus strain. When exposed to infectious bloodmeal titers & 106 TCID50/ml, infection and dissemination rates were all & 50% and were significantly affected by the origin of the mosquito population but not by the strain of DENV-2. Replication of DENV-2 was also significantly affected by the mosquito population and the titer of the infectious bloodmeal that mosquitoes were exposed to. The results of this study are discussed in the context of DENV transmission dynamics in northern Australia and the relative fitness of the sylvatic virus strain in urban Ae. aegypti populations.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-06-2018
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 18-05-2016
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 25-05-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.05.24.445527
Abstract: Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes integrate multiple sensory cues to locate human hosts for blood meals. While male mosquitoes do not blood feed, male Ae. aegypti swarm around and land on humans in nature. Basrur et al. (2020) generated male Ae. aegypti lacking the fruitless gene and discovered that they gained strong attraction to humans, similar to female mosquitoes. The authors assume that host-seeking is a female-specific trait. However, all experiments were performed under confined laboratory conditions which are unable to detect long-range attraction. We used semi-field experiments to demonstrate robust attraction of male Ae. aegypti to humans. Our observations refute a key assumption of Basrur et al. (2020) and raise questions around conditions under which fruitless prevents male host-seeking. Male mosquito attraction to humans is likely to be important for mating success in wild populations and its basis should be further explored.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1071/AN15365
Abstract: The methods for estimating methane emissions from cattle as used in the Australian national inventory are based on older data that have now been superseded by a large amount of more recent data. Recent data suggested that the current inventory emissions estimates can be improved. To address this issue, a total of 1034 in idual animal records of daily methane production (MP) was used to reassess the relationship between MP and each of dry matter intake (DMI) and gross energy intake (GEI). Data were restricted to trials conducted in the past 10 years using open-circuit respiration chambers, with cattle fed forage-based diets (forage %). Results from diets considered to inhibit methanogenesis were omitted from the dataset. Records were obtained from dairy cattle fed temperate forages (220 records), beef cattle fed temperate forages (680 records) and beef cattle fed tropical forages (133 records). Relationships were very similar for all three production categories and single relationships for MP on a DMI or GEI basis were proposed for national inventory purposes. These relationships were MP (g/day) = 20.7 (±0.28) × DMI (kg/day) (R2 = 0.92, P 0.001) and MP (MJ/day) = 0.063 (±0.008) × GEI (MJ/day) (R2 = 0.93, P 0.001). If the revised MP (g/day) approach is used to calculate Australia’s national inventory, it will reduce estimates of emissions of forage-fed cattle by 24%. Assuming a global warming potential of 25 for methane, this represents a 12.6 Mt CO2-e reduction in calculated annual emissions from Australian cattle.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 28-10-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.10.27.466190
Abstract: Mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia endosymbionts are being released in many countries for arbovirus control. The w Mel strain of Wolbachia blocks Aedes -borne virus transmission and can spread throughout mosquito populations by inducing cytoplasmic incompatibility. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying w Mel were first released into the field in Cairns, Australia, over a decade ago, and with wider releases have resulted in the near elimination of local dengue transmission. The long-term stability of Wolbachia effects is critical for ongoing disease suppression, requiring tracking of phenotypic and genomic changes in Wolbachia infections following releases. We used a combination of field surveys, phenotypic assessments, and Wolbachia genome sequencing to show that w Mel has remained stable in its effects for up to a decade in Australian Ae. aegypti populations. Phenotypic comparisons of w Mel-infected and uninfected mosquitoes from near-field and long-term laboratory populations suggest limited changes in the effects of w Mel on mosquito fitness. Treating mosquitoes with antibiotics used to cure the w Mel infection had limited effects on fitness in the next generation, supporting the use of tetracycline for generating uninfected mosquitoes without off-target effects. w Mel has a temporally stable within-host density and continues to induce complete cytoplasmic incompatibility. A comparison of w Mel genomes from pre-release (2010) and nine years post-release (2020) populations show few genomic differences and little ergence between release locations, consistent with the lack of phenotypic changes. These results indicate that releases of Wolbachia -infected mosquitoes for population replacement are likely to be effective for many years, but ongoing monitoring remains important to track potential evolutionary changes. Wolbachia are endosymbionts that can block the transmission of arboviruses by mosquitoes. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying the w Mel strain of Wolbachia have been released in ‘population replacement’ interventions, which aim to establish w Mel in mosquito populations, thereby reducing their ability to spread disease. Wolbachia population replacement programs began only a decade ago, raising uncertainty about their long-term effectiveness. Here we provide a comprehensive assessment of the long-term stability of w Mel from the very first Wolbachia population replacement release. We show that there is no evidence for changes in the phenotypic effects of w Mel in mosquitoes, and confirm that the w Mel genome has changed very little in the decade since field releases began. w Mel remains at high levels within mosquitoes, suggesting that its ability to block virus transmission has been retained. Our data provides confidence that Wolbachia population replacement releases will provide ongoing protection against arbovirus transmission.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-06-2019
DOI: 10.1111/DDI.12935
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 28-09-2017
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 02-04-2019
DOI: 10.1093/JME/TJZ044
Abstract: Arbovirus surveillance is crucial for the implementation of vector-borne disease control measures. Recently, it has been demonstrated that mosquitoes with a disseminated arbovirus infection excrete viral RNA, which can be detected by molecular methods. Thereby, mosquito excreta has been proposed as a s le type that could be utilized for arbovirus surveillance. In this study, we evaluated if West Nile virus (Kunjin strain, WNVKUN) RNA in Culex annulirostris Skuse (Diptera: Culicidae) excreta deposited on different substrates could be detected after storage for up to 2 wk at tropical conditions of high heat and humidity. No significant drop in relative quantity of WNVKUN RNA (determined by comparison of Ct values) in excreta deposited on Flinders Associate Technologies (FTA) cards was observed over 14 d, suggesting that RNA was stable for that time. There was no significant difference in relative quantity of WNVKUN RNA in excreta deposited on FTA cards or polycarbonate substrates after 24 h. However, after 7 and 14 d, there was a significant decline in the relative quantity of viral RNA in the excreta stored on polycarbonate substrates. For incorporation in arbovirus surveillance programs, we recommend the use of polycarbonate substrates for excreta collection in mosquito traps deployed overnight, and the integration of FTA cards in traps serviced weekly or fortnightly. Polycarbonate substrates facilitate the collection of the majority of excreta from a trap, and while FTA cards offer limited area coverage, they enable preservation of viral RNA in tropical conditions for extended periods of time.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-09-2019
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 12-06-2020
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 12-11-2021
DOI: 10.1093/JME/TJAA242
Abstract: The global distribution of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) is rapidly expanding which has contributed to the emergence and re-emergence of dengue and chikungunya outbreaks. Improvements in vector surveillance are necessary to facilitate optimized, evidence-based vector control operations. Current trapping technology used to target Ae. albopictus and other Aedes species for vector surveillance are limited in both scale and scope, thus novel tools are required. Here, we evaluated the Male Aedes Sound Trap (MAST) for its capacity to s le male Ae. albopictus. Aims of this study were twofold: 1) to determine the most effective frequency for capturing male Ae. albopictus and 2) to investigate fine-scale variations in male Ae. albopictus abundance. MASTs which produced sound lure frequencies between 500 and 650 Hz captured significantly more male Ae. albopictus than those with sound lure frequencies set to 450 Hz. Further, the higher sound lure frequency of 700 Hz significantly reduced catches relative to 650 Hz. MASTs placed in woodland habitats captured significantly more male Ae. albopictus than MASTs placed near houses. These results provide baseline information for optimizing sound lure frequencies and placement of the MAST to s le male Ae. albopictus in remote areas.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 07-06-2021
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PNTD.0009357
Abstract: Rapid advances in biological and digital support systems are revolutionizing the population control of invasive disease vectors such as Aedes aegypti . Methods such as the sterile and incompatible insect techniques (SIT/IIT) rely on modified males to seek out and successfully mate with females, and in doing so outcompete the wild male population for mates. Currently, these interventions most frequently infer mating success through area-wide population surveillance and estimates of mating competitiveness are rare. Furthermore, little is known about male Ae . aegypti behaviour and biology in field settings. In preparation for a large, community scale IIT program, we undertook a series of mark- release-recapture experiments using rhodamine B to mark male Ae . aegypti sperm and measure mating interactions with females. We also developed a Spatial and Temporally Evolving Isotropic Kernel (STEIK) framework to assist researchers to estimate the movement of in iduals through space and time. Results showed that ~40% of wild females captured daily were unmated, suggesting interventions will need to release males multiple times per week to be effective at suppressing Ae . aegypti populations. Males moved rapidly through the landscape, particularly when released during the night. Although males moved further than what is typically observed in females of the species, survival was considerably lower. These unique insights improve our understanding of mating interactions in wild Ae . aegypti populations and lay the foundation for robust suppression strategies in the future.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2021
Publisher: The American Mosquito Control Association
Date: 09-2019
DOI: 10.2987/18-6799.1
Abstract: Aedes aegypti is a vector of many significant arboviruses worldwide, including dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses. With vector control methodology pivoting toward rearing and releasing large numbers of insects for either population suppression or virus-blocking, economical remote (sentinel) surveillance methods for release tracking become increasingly necessary. Recent steps in this direction include advances in optical sensors that identify and classify insects based on their wing beat frequency (WBF). As these traps are being developed, there is a strong need to better understand the environmental and biological factors influencing mosquito WBFs. Here, we developed new untethered-subject methodology to detect changes in WBFs of male and female Ae. aegypti. This new methodology involves directing an ultrasonic transducer at a free-flying subject and measuring the Doppler shift of the reflected ultrasonic continuous wave signal. This system's utility was assessed by determining its ability to confirm previous reports on the effect of temperature, body size, and age on the WBFs generated from acoustic or optical-based experiments. The presented ultrasonic method successfully detected expected trends for each factor for both male and female Ae. aegypti without the need for subject manipulation and potential impediment of natural flight dynamics due to tethering. As a result, this ultrasonic methodology provides a new method for understanding the environmental and physiological determinants of male and female WBFs that can inform the design of remote mosquito surveillance systems.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 28-02-2019
DOI: 10.1093/JME/TJZ018
Abstract: As the incidence of arboviral diseases such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever increases globally, controlling their primary vector, Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae), is of greater importance than ever before. Mosquito control programs rely heavily on effective adult surveillance to ensure methodological efficacy. The Biogents Sentinel (BGS) trap is the gold standard for surveilling adult Aedes mosquitoes and is commonly deployed worldwide, including during modern ‘rear and release’ programs. Despite its extensive use, few studies have directly assessed environmental characteristics that affect BGS trap catches, let alone how these influences change during ‘rear and release’ programs. We assessed male and female Ae. aegypti spatial stability, as well as premises condition and trap location influences on BGS trap catches, as part of Debug Innisfail ‘rear and release’ program in northern Australia. We found similar trends in spatial stability of male and female mosquitoes at both weekly and monthly resolutions. From surveillance in locations where no males were released, reduced catches were found at premises that contained somewhat damaged houses and unscreened properties. In addition, when traps were located in areas that were unsheltered, more than 10 m from commonly used sitting areas or more visually complex catches were also negatively affected. In locations where males were released, we found that traps in treatment sites, relative to control sites, displayed increased catches in heavily shaded premises and were inconsistently influenced by differences in house sets and building materials. Such findings have valuable implications for a range of Ae. aegypti surveillance programs.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 24-07-2018
DOI: 10.1093/JME/TJY125
Abstract: Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) is a vector of viruses causing dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever and subsequently pose a significant global threat to public health. While s ling live mosquitoes is useful for surveillance purposes, most traps targeting Aedes kill captured mosquitoes. The Biogents Sentinel (BGS) trap, the gold standard for capturing Ae. aegypti, is one such trap. In our study, we modified the BGS trap to increase the survival of captured Ae. aegypti by replacing the trap's catch bag with a catch pot that protects mosquitoes from desiccation by airflow. A sucrose-soaked sponge or nucleic acid preservative card can also be placed inside the pot to enhance mosquito survival and augment arbovirus detection. These modifications to the BGS significantly increased the longevity of mosquitoes captured with weekly survivals of 93% in a semifield structure and 86% in the field. These high survival rates resulted in 3.5 times more alive Ae. aegypti captured weekly in the modified BGS compared to the original BGS, despite 40% lower overall catch rates. These cheap and simple trap modifications facilitate easier specimen identification as well as experiments requiring live field-collected s les such as virus detection from mosquito saliva and excreta.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2018
Abstract: Historically, sustained control of Aedes aegypti, the vector of dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika viruses, has been largely ineffective. Subsequently, two novel 'rear and release' control strategies utilizing mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia are currently being developed and deployed widely. In the incompatible insect technique, male Aedes mosquitoes, infected with Wolbachia, suppress populations through unproductive mating. In the transinfection strategy, both male and female Wolbachia-infected Ae. aegypti mosquitoes rapidly infect the wild population with Wolbachia, blocking virus transmission. It is critical to monitor the long-term stability of Wolbachia in host populations, and also the ability of this bacterium to continually inhibit virus transmission. Ongoing release and monitoring programs must be future-proofed should political support weaken when these vectors are successfully controlled.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 20-02-2014
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 23-01-2020
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 25-02-2021
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PNTD.0009061
Abstract: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus vector dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses. With both species expanding their global distributions at alarming rates, developing effective surveillance equipment is a continuing priority for public health researchers. Sound traps have been shown, in limited testing, to be highly species-specific when emitting a frequency corresponding to a female mosquito wingbeat. Determining male mosquito capture rates in sound traps based on lure frequencies in endemic settings is the next step for informed deployment of these surveillance tools. We field-evaluated Male Aedes Sound Traps (MASTs) set to either 450 Hz, 500 Hz, 550 Hz or 600 Hz for s ling Aedes aegypti and/or Aedes albopictus and compared catch rates to BG-Sentinel traps within Pacific (Madang, Papua New Guinea) and Latin American (Molas, Mexico and Orange Walk Town, Belize) locations. MASTs set to 450–550 Hz consistently caught male Ae . aegypti at rates comparable to BG-Sentinel traps in all locations. A peak in male Ae . albopictus captures in MASTs set at 550 Hz was observed, with the lowest mean abundance recorded in MASTs set to 450 Hz. While significantly higher abundances of male Culex were s led in MASTs emitting lower relative frequencies in Molas, overall male Culex were captured in significantly lower abundances in the MASTs, relative to BG-Sentinel traps within all locations. Finally, significant differences in rates at which male Aedes and Culex were positively detected in trap-types per weekly collections were broadly consistent with trends in abundance data per trap-type. MASTs at 550 Hz effectively captured both male Ae . aegypti and Ae . albopictus while greatly reducing bycatch, especially male Culex , in locations where dengue transmission has occurred. This high species-specificity of the MAST not only reduces staff-time required to sort s les, but can also be exploited to develop an accurate smart-trap system—both outcomes potentially reducing public health program expenses.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 02-08-2018
No related grants have been discovered for Kyran Staunton.