Data from: Evidence that implicit assumptions of ‘no evolution’ of disease vectors in changing environments can be violated on a rapid timescale

Projected impacts of climate change on vector-borne disease dynamics must consider many variables relevant to hosts, vectors and pathogens, including how altered environmental characteristics might affect the spatial distributions of vector species. However, many predictive models for vector distributions consider their habitat requirements to be fixed over relevant time-scales, when they may actually be capable of rapid evolutionary change and even adaptation. We examine the genetic signature of a spatial expansion by an invasive vector into locations with novel temperature conditions compared to its native range as a proxy for how existing vector populations may respond to temporally changing habitat. Specifically, we compare invasions into different climate ranges and characterize the importance of selection from the invaded habitat. We demonstrate that vector species can exhibit evolutionary responses (altered allelic frequencies) to a temperature gradient in as little as 7–10 years even in the presence of high gene flow, and further, that this response varies depending on the strength of selection. We interpret these findings in the context of climate change predictions for vector populations and emphasize the importance of incorporating vector evolution into models of future vector-borne disease dynamics.气候变化对媒介传播疾病（vector-borne disease）动态的预估影响，必须考量与宿主、媒介（vector）、病原体（pathogen）相关的诸多变量，其中涵盖环境特征改变对媒介物种空间分布的潜在影响。然而，诸多用于预测媒介分布的模型均将其栖息地需求视作相关时间尺度上的固定属性，但实际上媒介物种具备快速演化乃至适应环境的能力。本研究以入侵性媒介从其原生分布范围扩散至相较于原生范围温度条件全新的区域这一空间扩张事件的遗传特征（genetic signature），作为现有媒介种群响应随时间变化的栖息地的替代指标；具体而言，我们对比了不同气候区域内的入侵事件，并刻画了入侵栖息地选择压力的重要性。我们证实，即便存在高强度基因流（gene flow），媒介物种仍可在短短7至10年内对温度梯度产生演化响应——即等位基因频率（allelic frequencies）的改变，且该响应随选择压力强度的不同而存在差异。我们结合媒介种群的气候变化预测背景解读了上述研究结果，并着重强调，将媒介演化纳入未来媒介传播疾病动态模型的重要性。