View source for Medical and Veterinary Entomology (2010) 24, 101-107

{{Publication
|Publication authors=[[Paul Odhiambo Mireji|P.O. Mireji]], J. Keating, [[Ahmed Hassanali|A. Hassanali]], C.M. Mbogo, M.N. Muturi, J.I. Githure and J.C. Beier
|Author Page=Paul Odhiambo Mireji, Ahmed Hassanali
|Publication date=2010
|dc:title=Biological cost of tolerance to heavy metals in the mosquito ''[[Anopheles gambiae]] ''
|Publication journal=Medical and Veterinary Entomology
|prism:volume=24 (2)
|prism:startingPage=101
|Last page=107
|DOI=10.1111/j.1365-2915.2010.00863.x
|Publication abstract=The global rate of heavy metal pollution is rapidly increasing in various habitats. ''Anopheles'' malaria vector species (Diptera: Culicidae) appear to tolerate many aquatic habitats with metal pollutants, despite their normal proclivity for 'clean' water (i.e. low levels of organic matter). Investigations were conducted to establish whether there are biological costs for tolerance to heavy metals in ''Anopheles gambiae'' Giles ''sensu stricto'' and to assess the potential impact of heavy metal pollution on mosquito ecology. ''Anopheles gambiae s.s.'' were selected for cadmium, copper or lead tolerance through chronic exposure of immature stages to solutions of the metals for three successive generations. Biological costs were assessed in the fourth generation by horizontal life table analysis. Tolerance in larvae to cadmium (as cadmium chloride, CdCl<sub>2</sub>), copper [as copper II nitrate hydrate, Cu(NO<sub>3</sub>)<sub>2</sub> 2.5 H<sub>2</sub>O] and lead [as lead II nitrate, Pb(NO<sub>3</sub>)<sub>2</sub>], monitored by changes in LC<sub>50</sub> concentrations of the metals, changed from 6.07 µg/L, 12.42 µg/L and 493.32 µg/L to 4.45 µg/L, 25.02 µg/L and 516.69 µg/L, respectively, after three generations of exposure. The metal-selected strains had a significantly lower magnitude of egg viability, larval and pupal survivorship, adult emergence, fecundity and net reproductive rate than the control strain. The population doubling times were significantly longer and the instantaneous birth rates lower in most metal-selected strains relative to the control strain. Our results suggest that although ''An. gambiae s.s.'' displays the potential to develop tolerance to heavy metals, particularly copper, this may occur at a significant biological cost, which can adversely affect its ecological fitness.
|AbstractCC=Yes
|Research topic=environment - cropping system/rotation
|Is book=No
}}
{{Pest record
|Pest=Anopheles gambiae
|Quarantined=No
}}