Premium
Population dynamics of Triatoma infestans under natural climatic conditions in the Argentine Chaco
Author(s) -
GORLA D. E.,
SCHOFIELD C. J.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
medical and veterinary entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2915
pISSN - 0269-283X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2915.1989.tb00497.x
Subject(s) - triatoma infestans , biology , fecundity , vector (molecular biology) , population density , triatoma , reduviidae , population , ecology , natural population growth , zoology , heteroptera , veterinary medicine , parasite hosting , demography , trypanosoma cruzi , medicine , biochemistry , sociology , world wide web , computer science , gene , recombinant dna
. Using experimental chicken houses at a site in central Argentina where the bug Triatoma infestans (Klug) is endemic, nine populations of this vector of Chagas disease were monitored during a 34‐month period. Bug populations with four chickens as hosts were consistently larger than those with two chickens as hosts. Age structure of the bug population followed a similar pattern irrespective of the initial age structure. Egg to adult mortality was consistently around 98.5% and there was no consistent evidence for density‐dependent mortality. There was some evidence for density dependence in fecundity and recruitment rates, but these were heavily constrained by low temperatures during the winter months. Nymphal development rates correlated most strongly with mean minimum temperatures rather than with mean maximum temperatures. We conclude that vector control using insecticides against this species would be most effective at the onset of winter, when recovery of any surviving populations would be inhibited by low temperatures.