The co-existence patterns between native and an invasive mosquito species in Hungary based on a field survey

Biological invasions by non-native mosquito species pose significant global economic and public health threats due to their high vector competence. Still, their ecological relationships with the native fauna are rarely considered. This field study investigates the association between Aedes albopictus and the native mosquito community in Hungary. We conducted field sampling from 2020 to 2023, identified 104,612 mosquitoes from 29 species captured in traps across 532 locations, and characterized species diversity as well as the abundance of native species at each trapping event. We found that, where Ae. albopictus is already present, its abundance was positively associated with the species richness and diversity of native mosquitoes even after controlling for spatial and seasonal effects. We identified several significant pair-wise associations between Ae. albopictus and native species, both in positive and negative directions. These correlative patterns may indicate either direct interaction between species (e.g., competition) or patterns of co-existence that are driven by a third variable in the background. We performed path analyses to uncover the causal relationship among environmental traits (temperature, precipitation, urbanization and distance from water surfaces), the abundance of Ae. albopictus and that of four native species depicting co-existence patterns with the invasive one. These analyses revealed that the co-occurrences of Ae. albopictus with Anopheles plumbeus and Coquillettidia richiardii were mediated by seasonal activity, indicating that invasive mosquitoes can thrive in ecological conditions that disfavor native species. However, path models for Ochlerotatus dorsalis and Oc. geniculatus suggested a more direct causal relationship with Ae. albopictus . Although we cannot exclude that interspecific competition may partly shape the distribution of invasive and native mosquitoes, environmental filtering via shared ecological preferences appears to play a dominant role in structuring co-occurrence patterns.