Altered feeding behaviors in disease vectors

Abstract

Abstract Infection has been demonstrated to alter host behavior. Changes in the feeding behaviors of disease vectors are particularly interesting because in addition to being important for vector fitness and susceptibility, these changes have consequences for contact rates with hosts and large implications for transmission dynamics. While infection associated changes in the feeding behavior of vectors have been almost exclusively interpreted as parasite manipulation, work in other insects has highlighted the importance of feeding in host resistance and tolerance mechanisms. The goals of this chapter are to discuss the key ways that infection has been found to alter vector feeding behaviors, mechanisms currently known to underlie these changes in behavior, how the coevolved interactions between the vector and pathogen might shape these behaviors, and gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed to understand evolutionary and ecological aspects of these behaviors in full.