From Ecosystems to Malaria Transmission: Environmental Drivers of Mosquito Biology and Vector Competence

Despite decades of progress in malaria control, the disease remains a major cause of morbidity andmortality, especially among children in sub-Saharan Africa. Traditional interventions have substantiallyreduced malaria transmission, but their long-term effectiveness is increasingly challenged by insecticideresistance, behavioral adaptation, and the ecological diversity of malaria vectors. Addressing thesechallenges requires expanding our understanding of the factors that shape mosquito biology anddetermine their capacity to transmit Plasmodium. Mosquitoes do not exist as isolated disease vectors.Throughout their life cycle, they are embedded in complex, dynamic ecosystems and interact with plants,microorganisms, vertebrate hosts, and the physical environment. These interactions provide nutrientsand chemical cues, shape microbial communities, and influence mosquito metabolism, immunity,development, physiology, and behavior. Environmental conditions can also reshape mosquito–Plasmodium interactions and alter susceptibility to infection and transmission potential. Vectorcompetence may therefore be viewed not simply as a fixed property of a mosquito species or genotypebut as a dynamic phenotype emerging from the interaction between mosquito biology and theenvironment where mosquitoes develop and live.This Research Topic brings together investigators across vector biology, microbial and chemical ecology,entomology, parasitology, environmental sciences, and malaria control to explore how biotic and abioticenvironmental factors shape mosquito biology and vector competence. Of particular interest are studiesexamining diet and nutritional ecology, plant–mosquito and environmental microbe-mosquitointeractions, temperature, humidity, and their interactions. Rather than treating environmental variablesas independent modifiers of transmission, we aim to promote an integrative framework wheremosquitoes are viewed as integrators of their environment, translating ecological exposures intophysiological, behavioral, and microbial associations that can favor or restrict Plasmodium infection.By connecting processes across molecular, individual mosquito vector, vector populations, andecosystemic scales, this Research Topic aims to uncover the environmental basis of heterogeneity inmalaria transmission and stimulate new opportunities for malaria surveillance and vector control.Ultimately, we seek to broaden the focus from controlling the mosquito as an isolated vector towardunderstanding, and potentially leveraging, the ecological context in which vector competence and malariatransmission emerge.We welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following areas:• Mosquito nutritional ecology and vector competence• Plant–mosquito–microorganism interactions• Mosquito microbiome–immunity–Plasmodium interactions• Abiotic environmental stress and mosquito–parasite interactions• Interactions among biotic and abiotic environmental drivers• Larval environmental programming of adult vector competence• Environmental regulation of mosquito immunity and physiological plasticity• Landscape and ecosystem change in malaria vector ecology• Ecological determinants of heterogeneity in vector competence• Environmentally informed approaches to malaria surveillance and vector controlWe welcome Original Research, Reviews, SystemaCc Reviews, PerspecCves, Brief Research Reports,Methods, and Hypothesis and Theory arCcles that connect environmental variaLon with mosquitobiology, Plasmodium suscepLbility, vector competence, and malaria transmission across scales, frommolecular mechanisms and individual vectors to populaLons, landscapes, and ecosystems. Topic editors: Diego Giraldo, Emma Camacho Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85569/from-ecosystems-to-malaria-transmission-environmental-drivers-of-mosquito-biology-and-vector-competence