Persistent climate change impacts on tsetse vectors of trypanosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa

Climate change is likely to impact the abundance and distribution of insect disease vectors. Most attempts to predict responses to climate change focus on immediate effects of exposure to environmental stress. Through impacts on reproductive physiology, stress may have persistent effects on subsequent generations. These transgenerational effects remain poorly understood. Tsetse flies transmit debilitating trypanosome parasites to humans and livestock, imposing huge social and economic restrictions across sub-Saharan Africa. This project will investigate how temperature and nutrition in tsetse females influences offspring physiology. Results will provide key insight for predicting tsetse responses to warming temperatures and changes in host populations.