Effects of local meteorological parameters on the biology of Culex pipiens (L.) (diptera: culicidae) in the framework of global climate change

It is predicted that mosquitoes, being ectothermic arthropods, will be significantly affected by the anthropogenic climate change. However, it is known that the precise manifestation of this effect is quite complicated, and the need for field-based realistic data is particularly emphasized in order to make an accurate prediction. This study was carried out to determine the larval development characteristics of Culex pipiens on monthly basis in its natural habitat in Eastern Thrace, Turkey. During the study, performed between May 2021 and June 2022, a total of 3744 larvae were reared in artificial containers to be fully exposed to the natural thermal regime and monitored daily from the eclosion of the first instar larvae to the adult emergence or the death of the last aquatic form, and survival rate and development time of the aquatic stages, wing length of emergent adults and hourly ambient temperature values were recorded. In total, 2596 adults emerged with a developmental time ranging from 7 to 48 days that was directly determined by the periodic values and course of the ambient temperature. This study revealed that magnific plastic thermal response and thermal acclimation capacity of the species, together with beneficences of the circadian rhythm, endow the larvae in the natural habitat with unexpectedly higher viability and development rate than can be determined under constant laboratory conditions. The predicted increase in the severity of thermal fluctuations and possible shortening of the wings of emergent adults due to increasing temperature seem to be the primary detrimental impact of the predicted climate change for Cx. pipiens that it will face through the immatures. In addition, global warming seems likely to cause dramatic changes in the seasonal phenology of the species by enabling larvae to overwinter in the future. The fact that Cx. pipiens has already adapted to human environment and habits, and that it faces thermal perturbations primarily through an already existing genetic potential, appears to offer some advantages to the species against climate change, which is predicted to be too fast to allow many species to adapt.