1. Ecology

Modelling the climatic suitability of Chagas disease vectors on a global scale

  1. Fanny E Eberhard  Is a corresponding author
  2. Sarah Cunze
  3. Judith Kochmann
  4. Sven Klimpel
  1. Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.52072
Share this article
Cite this article
  1. Fanny E Eberhard
  2. Sarah Cunze
  3. Judith Kochmann
  4. Sven Klimpel
(2020)
Modelling the climatic suitability of Chagas disease vectors on a global scale
eLife 9:e52072.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.52072
  2. Download BibTeX
  3. Download .RIS

Abstract

The Triatominae are a vector species for Trypanosoma cruzi, the aetiological agent of the neglected tropical Chagas disease. Their distribution stretches across Latin America, with some species occurring outside of the Americas. In particular, the cosmopolitan vector, Triatoma rubrofasciata, has already been detected in many Asian and African countries. We applied an ensemble forecasting niche modelling approach to project the climatic suitability of 11 triatomine species under current climate conditions on a global scale. Our results revealed potential hotspots of triatomine species diversity in tropical and subtropical regions between 21°N and 24°S latitude. We also determined the climatic suitability of two temperate species (T. infestans, T. sordida) in Europe, western Australia and New Zealand. Triatoma rubrofasciata has been projected to find climatically suitable conditions in large parts of coastal areas throughout Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia, emphasising the importance of an international vector surveillance program in these regions.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.

The following previously published data sets were used

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Fanny E Eberhard

    Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    For correspondence
    Eberhard@bio.uni-frankfurt.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4947-3867

  2. Sarah Cunze

    Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Judith Kochmann

    Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Sven Klimpel

    Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

No external funding was received for this work.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Anna Akhmanova, Utrecht University, Netherlands

Version history

  1. Received: September 20, 2019
  2. Accepted: May 5, 2020
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: May 6, 2020 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: May 19, 2020 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2020, Eberhard et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 2,457
    views
  • 293
    downloads
  • 29
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Fanny E Eberhard
  2. Sarah Cunze
  3. Judith Kochmann
  4. Sven Klimpel
(2020)
Modelling the climatic suitability of Chagas disease vectors on a global scale
eLife 9:e52072.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.52072

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.52072

Categories and tags

Further reading

    1. Ecology

    Warming and altered precipitation independently and interactively suppress alpine soil microbial growth in a decadal-long experiment

    Yang Ruan, Ning Ling ... Zhibiao Nan
    Research Article

    Warming and precipitation anomalies affect terrestrial carbon balance partly through altering microbial eco-physiological processes (e.g., growth and death) in soil. However, little is known about how such processes responds to simultaneous regime shifts in temperature and precipitation. We used the 18O-water quantitative stable isotope probing approach to estimate bacterial growth in alpine meadow soils of the Tibetan Plateau after a decade of warming and altered precipitation manipulation. Our results showed that the growth of major taxa was suppressed by the single and combined effects of temperature and precipitation, eliciting 40–90% of growth reduction of whole community. The antagonistic interactions of warming and altered precipitation on population growth were common (~70% taxa), represented by the weak antagonistic interactions of warming and drought, and the neutralizing effects of warming and wet. The members in Solirubrobacter and Pseudonocardia genera had high growth rates under changed climate regimes. These results are important to understand and predict the soil microbial dynamics in alpine meadow ecosystems suffering from multiple climate change factors.

    1. Ecology

    The push–pull intercrop Desmodium does not repel, but intercepts and kills pests

    Anna L Erdei, Aneth B David ... Teun Dekker
    Research Article Updated

    Over two decades ago, an intercropping strategy was developed that received critical acclaim for synergizing food security with ecosystem resilience in smallholder farming. The push–pull strategy reportedly suppresses lepidopteran pests in maize through a combination of a repellent intercrop (push), commonly Desmodium spp., and an attractive, border crop (pull). Key in the system is the intercrop’s constitutive release of volatile terpenoids that repel herbivores. However, the earlier described volatile terpenoids were not detectable in the headspace of Desmodium, and only minimally upon herbivory. This was independent of soil type, microbiome composition, and whether collections were made in the laboratory or in the field. Furthermore, in oviposition choice tests in a wind tunnel, maize with or without an odor background of Desmodium was equally attractive for the invasive pest Spodoptera frugiperda. In search of an alternative mechanism, we found that neonate larvae strongly preferred Desmodium over maize. However, their development stagnated and no larva survived. In addition, older larvae were frequently seen impaled and immobilized by the dense network of silica-fortified, non-glandular trichomes. Thus, our data suggest that Desmodium may act through intercepting and decimating dispersing larval offspring rather than adult deterrence. As a hallmark of sustainable pest control, maize–Desmodium push–pull intercropping has inspired countless efforts to emulate stimulo-deterrent diversion in other cropping systems. However, detailed knowledge of the actual mechanisms is required to rationally improve the strategy, and translate the concept to other cropping systems.

    1. Ecology

    Mutualistic Relationships: Balancing metabolism and reproduction

    Songdou Zhang, Shiheng An
    Insight

    The bacterium responsible for a disease that infects citrus plants across Asia facilitates its own proliferation by increasing the fecundity of its host insect.