Population dynamics of Armigeres subalbatus (Diptera: Culicidae) across a temperate altitudinal gradient

11 Understanding the impacts of weather fluctuations, and environmental gradients, on the 12 abundance of vectors is fundamental to grasp the dynamic nature of the entomological 13 risk for disease transmission. The mosquito Armigeres subalbatus (Coquillet) is a 14 common vector of filariasis. Nevertheless, its population dynamics have been relatively 15 poorly studied. Here, we present results from a season long study where we studied 16 spatio-temporal abundance patterns of Ar. subalbatus across the altitudinal gradient of 17 Mt. Konpira in Nagasaki, Japan. Spatially, we found that abundance of adult Ar. 18 subalbatus decreased with altitude and increased in areas where the ground was rich in 19 leaf litter. Similarly, adult activity was observed only when relative humidity was over 20 65%. Temporally, we found that peaks in abundance followed large rainfall events. 21 Nevertheless, this mosquito was under significant density dependence regulation. Our 22 results suggest that Ar. subalbatus population peaks following large rainfall events could 23 reflect the recruitment of individuals that were dormant as dry eggs. We did not find a 24 clear signal of temperature on abundance changes of this mosquito, but only on its 25 phenology. Since ground cover seemed more critical than temperature to its spatial 26 distribution, we propose that this mosquito might have some degree of autonomy to 27 changes in temperature. 28 Key-Words: Schmalhausen’s law, Ricker model, filariasis, density-dependence, forcing 29