Study: Mosquitoes in rainy places have higher heat tolerance

UF Health Podcasts

Some people love the heat, counting down the days until frigid winter evenings turn into sweltering summer nights. Others simply tolerate it.

Now, a new study suggests that there’s another being with its own variation in heat tolerance — the persistent, and resilient, mosquito.

That’s right. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered that some mosquito populations are more heat-tolerant and better equipped to survive heatwaves than others.

The study points out that most scientific models used to predict the spread of vector-borne diseases assume that all mosquito populations tolerate heat similarly. That means our understanding of the pests’ ability to spread diseases in a world affected by higher temperatures may need to shift.

Many millions of people around the globe suffer mosquito-borne diseases every year and more than 1 million die.

Researchers sampled mosquitoes from eight populations across four climate zones including New Orleans; St. Augustine, Florida; Huntsville, Alabama; Stillwater, Oklahoma; St. Louis; Urbana, Illinois; College Park, Maryland, and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Although there were significant regional differences, they followed no easy patterns related to temperature or latitude. Instead, researchers found precipitation was the overriding factor: Mosquitoes from places with more rain had higher heat tolerance.

Mosquitoes don’t thrive in temperatures lower than 50 degrees or higher than 95 degrees Fahrenheit. But knowing the role rain plays in the insects’ lives helps humans trying to keep their numbers in check have more success.