Environmental Drivers of Body Size Plasticity and Their Consequences for Reproductive Fitness in Anopheles coluzzii

Senevirathna, Kithmali Gayathri ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2643-0233 (2026) Environmental Drivers of Body Size Plasticity and Their Consequences for Reproductive Fitness in Anopheles coluzzii. Ceylon Journal of Science. (In Press)

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Abstract

Malaria is a life-threatening vector-borne disease transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes. Sub-Saharan Africa bears the highest burden of Malaria due to the abundance of major malaria vectors, including Anopheles coluzzii. This review aims to analyse existing knowledge on environmental factors affecting the body size of An. coluzzii, how they shape the consequences of reproductive fitness, and to address knowledge gaps with future directions. The PRISMA method was systematically used to collect data from scholarly databases, including Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and Scopus. The original research articles published in English between 2000 and February 2026 were included, yielding 76 articles. There is strong evidence that larval nutrition and density, temperature, predator exposure, water quality, and seasonality significantly influence adult body size. Body size is mostly measured using wing length as a proxy, as wing length correlates with dry mass and energy reserves. The reliability of using wing length as an indicator of physiological quality remains context-dependent. According to the findings, larger females exhibit greater fecundity, acquire larger blood meals, and show a higher survival rate. The body size of male mosquitoes is a key determinant in mate selection and acoustic signalling, though evidence suggests stabilising rather than purely directional selection. Moreover, the impact of environmental factors on body size is an interactive process that depends on resource availability and ecological complexity. Key research gaps remain in linking morphological measures with physiological reserves and long-term reproductive outcome under field conditions. Therefore, body size in An. coluzzii should be considered as a flexible, environmentally mediated trait with context-dependent consequences for reproductive fitness and population-level processes.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Anopheles coluzzii; Body size; Environmental drivers; Malaria vector; Reproductive fitness
Subjects:	Q Science > QL Zoology > QL360 Invertebrates > QL 461 Insects
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Education, Health and Sciences
Depositing User:	Kithmali Senevirathna
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2026 10:22
Last Modified:	10 Jul 2026 10:30
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/16420

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