TABLE 1.

Summary of the published literature that investigated the effects of relative humidity on mosquitoes, organized by life history trait, presented with a summary of the effect of RH.

Life history trait	Range explored (RH%)	Effect of RH	Mosquito species	References
Longevity/Survival/Desiccation tolerance	5–100	Increased RH significantly increased female longevity; tendency to survive longest at low temp—high humidity combinations and females to survive longer than males	Anopheles gambiae, An. stephensi, An. subpictus, An. culicifacies, An. pharoensis, An. arabiensis, An.funestus, Ae. aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Ae. togoi, Ae. paullusi, Culex pipiens, Eretmapodites chrysogaster	Alto et al. (2015), Bayoh (2001), Canyon et al. (2013), Costa et al. (2010), Gaaboub et al. (1971), Gray and Bradley (2005), Hylton (1969), Lega et al. (2017), Lewis (1933), Lomax (1968), Lyons et al. (2014), Mayne (1930), Mogi et al. (1996), Reiskind and Lounibos (2009) Schmidt et al. (2018) and Urbanski et al. (2010)
Egg production	34–95	Increased RH increased egg production; significantly lower numbers of eggs and delayed oviposition in dry conditions	An. pharoensis, Ae. aegypti, Ae. taeniorhynchus, Ae. vexans, Ae. trivittatus	Canyon et al. (1999, 2013), Costa et al. (2010), Gaaboub et al. (1971), Lega et al. (2017) and Mcgaughey and Knight (1967)
Activity/Behaviour	10–30, up to 100	Mosquito activity increases with increasing relative humidity to a point (~90%) and then precipitously declines, also has a general lower limit at ~40%.	An. quadrimaculatus, An. earlei, An. walkeri, An. crucians, Ae. aegypti, Ae. sollicitans, Ae. cantator, Ae. vexans, Ae. trivittatus, Ae. canadensis, Ae. communis, Ae. sticticus, Ae. taeniorhynchus, Ae. vigilax, Cx. pipiens, Cx. fatigans, Cx. restuans, Cx. nigripalpus, Cx. sitiens, Coquillettidia perturbans, Psorophora confinnis, Uranotaenia sapphirina	Bidlingmayer (1974, 1985), Dow and Gerrish (1970), Grimstad and DeFoliart (1975), Hagan et al. (2018), Johnson et al. (2020), Platt et al. (1957, 1958), Provost (1973), Rowley & Graham (1968), Rudolfs (1923, 1925), Thomson (1938), Witter et al. (2012) and Wright & Knight (1966)
Plasmodium infection	39–100	Mixed or unclear effects of humidity	An. stephensi, An. subpictus, An. culicifacies, An. fuliginosus, Cx quinquefasciatus, Cx. fatigans	Knowles and Basu (1943) and Mayne (1930)
Egg hatching	Real-world RH data; 0–100	Adding RH data to a predictive model focused on egg hatching made the model more accurate. Egg hatching worse at lower humidities	Ae. aegypti	Albernaz et al. (2009), Bar-Zeev (1957) and Lega et al. (2017)
Microclimate preference upon emergence	75, 86	Newly emerged adults with no access to water or sugar preferred cooler, more humid refugia.	An. gambiae, An. stephensi, Ae. aegypti and Cx. pipiens	Kessler and Guerin (2008)