A Mosquito Parasite Is Locally Adapted to Its Host but Not Temperature

AbstractClimate change will alter interactions between parasites and their hosts. Warming may affect patterns of local adaptation, shifting the environment to favor the parasite or host and thus changing the prevalence of disease. We assessed local adaptation to hosts and temperature in the facultative ciliate parasite Lambornella clarki, which infects the western tree hole mosquito Aedes sierrensis. We conducted laboratory infection experiments with mosquito larvae and parasites collected from across a climate gradient, pairing sympatric or allopatric populations across three temperatures that were either matched or mismatched to the source environment. Lambornella clarki parasites were locally adapted to their hosts, with 2.6 times higher infection rates on sympatric populations compared with allopatric populations, but they were not locally adapted to temperature. Infection peaked at the intermediate temperature of 12.5°C, notably lower than the optimum temperature for free-living L. clarki growth, suggesting that the host's immune response can play a significant role in mediating the outcome of infection. Our results highlight the importance of host selective pressure on parasites, despite the impact of temperature on infection success.