Mosquitoes are the most complex class in our simulation. It is not difficult to envision why as they are the ones that transmit the diseases and because of that we payed special interest in the way their behaviours were modelled so that we could accomodate a wide array of biological and epidemiological scenarios.
General Behaviour
The following pseudo-code shows the general way adult mosquito individuals behave in the simulation.
Variables
A brief description of the variables each mosquito individual contains follows. The first line on each description contains if the value should be treated as a variable or constant (V or C respectively) and the type of the variable.
age
- V:Int
- Stores the mosquito age in ticks
mated?
- V:Bool
- Stores the female state in mating
female?
- C:Bool
- Differentiates male mosquitos from females
bloodfed?
- V:Bool
- Stores the female state in bloodfed as part of reproductive cycle
laidEggs?
- V:Bool
- Stores the female state in oviposition
sterile?
- C:Bool
- Differentiates sterile mosquitos (males) from non-sterile mosquitos
sterileMate?
- V:Bool
- Stores if a female mated with a sterile male
wolbachia?
- C:Bool
- Differentiates wolbachia-infected mosquitos from non-infected
wolbachiaMate?
- V:Bool
- Stores if a female mated with a wolbachia-infected mate
oxitech?
- C:Bool
- Differentiates oxitec males from regular males
oxitechMate?
- V:Bool
- Stores if a female mated with an oxitec male
fitness_selected?
- Differentiates a fitness selected mosquito from a regular one
fitness_selectedMate?
- Stores if the female has mated with a fitness selected male
movement_speeds
- C:IntArray
- Stores the movement speeds of the mosquitos in each life stage
bitten_list
- V:StringArray
- Stores the individuals and times in which a mosquito has bitten persons
feeding_cooldown
- V:Int
- Stores the number of ticks missing so that a female can lay eggs
dengue
- V:Int
- Stores the dengue infection of a mosquito CURRENTLY UNUSED
ovipositionCounter
- V:Int
- Counts the number of times a female has laid eggs
maleReproductiveDelay
- V:Int
- Timer from egg hatching until the time when males are ready to mate
gonotrophic_cooldown
- V:Int
- Timer from bloodfeed until oviposition ready
metabolic_rate
- V:Int
- Stores the metabolic development of the mosquito (when equal to one it resets)
life_stage
- V:Int
- Stores the current life phase of the mosquito for behaviour purposes
life_stage_ticks
- V:Int
- Stores the number of ticks a mosquito has spent in a given life stage
life_stage_ticks_list
- V:IntArray
- Stores the number of ticks a mosquito has spent in each life stage
hunger
- V:Int
- Stores the hunger level of the mosquito
transition_ages
ridl_gene
- C:Int
- Stores the type of RIDL genotype a mosquito posseses (0: rr :: 1:Rr :: 2:RR)
mate_ridl_gene
- C:Int
- Stores the type of RIDL genotype a mosquito posseses (0: rr :: 1:Rr :: 2:RR)