Latest Articles

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  Section: Mathematical & Computational Biology ; Topics: Biophysics and computational biology, Ecology, Population biology

  Modelling the impact of sterile male releases on a wild mosquito population – model assessment from field trials in Mauritius

  Haramboure, Marion;   Iyaloo, Diana;   Marti, Renaud;   Elahee, Khouaildi Bin; Castets, Mathieu;   Degenne, Pascal;   Bouyer, Jérémy;   Baldet, Thierry;   Tran, Annelise  

  10.24072/pcjournal.701 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e36

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  Mosquito control remains the cornerstone of the prevention and control of diseases caused by Aedes-borne pathogens, such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses. An innovative vector control method adapted to Aedes albopictus mosquitoes is the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), which consists of the mass-release of sterilized male mosquitoes. The impact of SIT and the optimization of release strategies can be studied through modelling. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of a mathematical model to simulate the impact of SIT releases by comparing the simulation outputs with entomological data collected during and after SIT trials in Mauritius. We modified a model of Ae. albopictus population dynamics (ARBOCARTO) that incorporates variations in temperature and rainfall, as well as the availability of breeding sites to introduce SIT. We then simulated SIT releases under the same conditions as the field trials and assessed the model's ability to realistically reproduce the impact of SIT releases by comparing the simulation outputs with entomological data observed in a trial site (where SIT releases were performed between May 2017 and February 2018) and a control site (without SIT releases). Four simulation scenarios were considered: without SIT, and with SIT applied on 50%, 75% and 100% of the trial area. Results showed that the ARBOCARTO model reproduced the major trends in the intra-annual Ae. albopictus population variations: simulated abundances of eggs, based on weather conditions, were highly and significantly correlated with the egg abundances observed at the SIT control site. The model also matched the trial site data for both the predicted number of newly produced eggs and the percentage of fertile eggs. The simulation results also revealed the importance of the percentage of the area covered by SIT releases as a key parameter for SIT impact, both for the reduction rate and for the resilience time, defined as the time required after the end of releases for the mosquito population to return to its initial state. Thanks to its user-friendly interface, the ARBOCARTO model can be used by vector control services and health stakeholders to simulate the impact of SIT releases and optimize release strategies, taking into account the operational capacity of sterile mosquito rearing facilities and the environmental conditions of the releases.

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  Section: Zoology ; Topics: Ecology, Applied biological sciences

  Context-dependent oviposition reveals strong association between acceptance and preference in the Mediterranean fruit fly

  Facon, Benoît;   Chauve, Madeline; Ravigné, Virginie;   Serrate, Bruno; Robejean, Myriam; Fraimout, Antoine;   Foucaud, Julien  

  10.24072/pcjournal.704 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e35

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  Oviposition behavior in phytophagous insects is influenced by different stimuli and plays a key role in pest dynamics and crop loss. This study used 3D-printed artificial fruits varying in colour (yellow, blue, white) and odour (cherry, orange, banana) to test how visual and olfactory cues affect oviposition acceptance (no-choice) and preference (choice). In no-choice assays, the nine artificial fruits displayed sufficiently different visual and olfactory cues to trigger different egg-laying outputs (by a factor 1:3 between the least attractive fruit, white fruit with banana scent and the most attractive fruit, yellow fruit with cherry scent). While cues acted independently in no-choice settings, significant interactions were observed in choice conditions, highlighting multimodal sensory integration. In choice assays, the number of eggs laid and female preference depended on both the characteristics of fruits and their context. However a strong correlation was found between acceptance and preference. The relationship found between acceptance and preference implied that when a fruit seemed preferred in no-choice assays, it was even more preferred in one-choice assays. We finally discussed the practical implications for behavior-based pest management strategies.

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  Section: Evolutionary Biology ; Topics: Evolution, Genetics/genomics

  Wing shape evolution is not constrained by ancestral genetic covariances in the invasive Drosophila suzukii

  Fraimout, Antoine;   Chantepie, Stéphane;   Navarro, Nicolas;   Teplitsky, Céline;   Debat, Vincent  

  10.24072/pcjournal.707 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e34

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  The extent to which phenotypic evolution can be constrained by genetic correlations is an important question in evolutionary biology. To address this question, biological invasions are opportune models where derived, invasive populations can be compared to their extant ancestors, allowing to track the evolution of genetic correlations from the ancestor, throughout the invasion process. In this paper, we focused on the worldwide invasion of Drosophila suzukii (Matsumara, 1931), and investigated the evolution of the genetic covariance matrix G of wing shape between ancestral native, and derived invasive populations. Leveraging demographic history resolved by population genetics approaches, we tested whether G remained stable during the invasion. Using a multivariate Q_ST-F_ST approach, we further tested whether or not the observed phenotypic divergence in wing shape aligned with a neutral scenario of evolution. Our results show moderate yet significant quantitative genetic differentiation of wing shape among D. suzukii populations and a relative stability in the structure of G, presenting a roughly spherical shape but slightly different volumes. These characteristics likely reflect the demographic history of populations and suggest a low level of genetic constraint on wing shape evolution. The divergence between populations was greater than expected under a purely neutral model of evolution, compatible with an effect of divergent selection among them. Overall, our study suggests that selection and drift, but not ancestral genetic constraints, affected the early stages of wing shape evolution during D. suzukii invasion.

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  Section: Forest & Wood Sciences ; Topics: Ecology, Statistics

  Informative priors contribute to quantifying the occurrence rate of a rare tree-related microhabitat in a managed forest

  Cottais, Pierre;   Courbaud, Benoît;   Larrieu, Laurent;   Gouix, Nicolas; Laroche, Fabien  

  10.24072/pcjournal.697 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e33

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  Tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) are key features for forest biodiversity, and knowing their accumulation rate is essential to design integrative management strategies. Many types of TreMs are associated to large old trees and show slow ontogenical processes. The rarity of such TreMs (particularly in intensively managed forests) hinder the estimation of their occurrence rate along tree growth. Here, we used a continental meta-analysis on TreMs occurrence rate along tree growth to build informative priors for a model of trunk-base rot-hole occurrence on oaks within the Grésigne forest, France --- a context where stand management and tree DBH were confounded. We explored whether the use of informative priors could improve the identifiability, the precision of estimates and the predictive abilities of the model. Without prior information, the low variance of tree DBH within management modalities rendered the model poorly identifiable and prevented the detection of an effect of tree DBH per se across the range of explored tree DBH. By contrast, using informative priors contributed to improve the precision of estimates and lead to detecting a positive effect of tree DBH per se.  Informative priors did not degrade the model fit and clearly improved predictive abilities on new stands. In particular, while the model without prior information did not predict the occurrence of trunk-base rot-holes significantly better than a purely random guess, the model with informative priors did. Irrespective of the prior used, models suggested that the high recruitment of trunk-base rot-holes in Grésigne may be a temporary management effect in stands undergoing conversion from coppice-with-standards to high forest through sprout thinning, which will lead to conservation issues for cavicolous saproxylic species when all conversions are complete. Because using informative priors was simple and beneficial in our study, it should be further explored in other local applied contexts to orientate forest management.