Bachelor Thesis

Einfluss der Lichtverhältnisse auf die Eier der Asiatischen Tigermücke (Aedes albopictus)

Tobias Kraft (01/2013-08/2013)

Support: Carl Beierkuhnlein, Stephanie Thomas

In times of global warming it is important to understand the biological and climatic barriers of invasive anthropods in temperate zones. Aedes albopictus (Ae. albopictus) is a high invasive mosquito species and vector for at least 22 pathogens. Due to its rapid spread around the globe within the last decades and because of its medical relevance, Ae. albopictus has become increasingly important. Previous studies have shown the importance of the minimum temperature during winter for the hatching success in temperate regions. Light climate, however, has so far not been taken into account as a controlling factor on hatching. In this study, experiments were conducted to analyse the influence of light during a cooling treatment. For the experiments, Ae. albopictus eggs were divided up into three different light intensity classes and placed in a climate chamber (5 C) for 24 hours. The treatment was repeated at 􀀀2C. After the cooling treatment and acclimatization to room temperature, the hatching of the eggs was stimulated. The importance of light and temperature on hatching success was further investigated by analysing a linear model with two􀀀way ANOVA (two-way analysis of variance). First it was expected that there is a difference in hatching after a after cooling treatment with different light intensity. Second it was expected that the differences are related to the treatment temperature. Both expectations were not met. It has therefore been shown that there is no significant influence of different light intensities during a cooling treatment at these temperatures.