Combined Trojan Y Chromosome Strategy and Sterile Insect Technique to Eliminate Mosquitoes: Modelling and Analysis

Abstract

Sterile insect technique has been successfully applied in the control of agricultural pests; however, it has a limited ability to control mosquitoes. A promising alternative approach is the Trojan Y Chromosome strategy, which works by manipulating the sex ratio of a population through the introduction of YY supermales that guarantee male offspring. To take the advantages of both approaches, a combined Trojan Y chromosome strategy and sterile insect technique (TYC-SIT) strategy considering intraspecies competition is modeled. The pure TYC method is compared with the pure SIT method by cancelling one-state variable. The dynamical analysis leads to results on both local and global stabilities of this combined TYC-SIT model. Optimal control analysis is also implemented to investigate the optimal mechanisms for extinction of mosquitoes. In particular, the numerical results affirm that the combined TYC-SIT enables near elimination of mosquitoes and works better than the pure TYC or pure SIT method. These conclusions have great significance for species controls with an XX-XY sex determinism system or ZZ-ZW system.