Mosquitoes (or Behavioral Plasticity)

Contributed by Stephen Wickman, St. Thomas Episcopal

The abnormally cool weather has lulled us this year, but soon “they” will be here…. Mosquitoes, I mean. And the latest episode of “Curious Cases” is particularly scary if, like me, you feel unfairly targeted (BBC Radio 4 – Curious Cases, Series 23, Don’t Bite Me!).

I have lots of experience.  In Haiti, where the anopheles mosquito carries the malaria, dengue, and even chikungunya viruses (fortunately, the malaria virus has not mutated there and can be controlled with an inexpensive dose – at least to me – chloroquine, though the stronger weekly dose causes amazing dreams and uneasy sleep under the mosquito tent); in Africa, where both the anopheles and aedes aegypti species carry all of the drug-resistant strains; in Taiwan, where dengue threatened the lives of my young children, one of whom was born there; and even in my backyard, where the aegypti in particular thrives.

If you listen to the BBC show you will find there are plenty of benign species. But these two, or rather the parasite or virus that infects them, are especially nasty. And the biters are all female!  Unless you believe in reincarnation, the life of a mosquito is less than two weeks (death is usually by swatting), and it takes longer than that for the virus or the parasite to reach maturity. So, the theory is that the virus or parasite makes the mosquitoes sick or sluggish and keeps them away from the human swatters. When the virus or the parasite matures, it makes them extremely aggressive because it craves the protein sucked from human blood.

 Even more amazing, the mosquitoes use an evolutionary technique called “behavioral plasticity.” 

Now scientists often come up with special terms for things which the rest of us view as commonplace, but in this instance, they use it to describe how the mosquito, a nocturnal insect, realized that more and more humans are using netting.  So they adapted by feeding in the early daylight or hanging around elementary schools to feast on unsuspecting children!

Scientists also tend to get carried away with their subject, pointing out that mosquitoes are beautiful and light years ahead of us in adaptability so they have defeated every DNA-based attempt to rid us of their scourge.

But why do they prefer some people over others. Well, the cool experiment one scientist performed in her lab (they used socks worn by the two BBC presenters) “prove” that if you’re alone, they will go after you, but if you are together with one or more people, they have clear preferences. Lots of theories, but at the end of the show, an older scientist explains that the most likely theory is that some people have better antidotes that prevent itching and scratching, although there may be something in some of us that is more attractive.  If you drink a lot, for example, some research shows the mosquitoes will tend to head your way.

So what do we take away from God’s apparent delight in letting these two species buzz around and annoy us, apparently, for eternity? Maybe we should show a bit more plasticity in our own behavior.  

This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.