The fertility of both female and male tsetse flies is affected by a single burst of hot weather, researchers at the University of Bristol and Stellenbosch University in South Africa have found.
The fertility of both female and male tsetse flies is affected by a single burst of hot weather, researchers at the University of Bristol and Stellenbosch University in South Africa have found.
The effects of a single heat wave were even felt in the offspring of heat-exposed parents, with more daughters being born than sons.
The study, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, helps explain why tsetse are declining in some parts of their range in Africa. This has important implications for the disease they spread, particularly sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in cattle.
Lead author Dr. Hester Weaving from Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences said, “A single heat wave damaged both male and female fertility of disease-spreading tsetse flies, sending populations into decline.
