Aedes albopictus has not become the dominant species in artificial container habitats in a temperate forest more than a decade after establishment

<p><i>Aedes albopictus </i>(Skuse) is one of the most invasive species globally, and has led to rapid declines and local extirpations of resident mosquitoes where it becomes established. A potential mechanism behind these displacements is the superior competitive ability of <i>Ae. albopictus</i> in larval habitats. Research on the context-dependent nature of competitive displacement predicts that <i>Ae. albopictus</i> will not replace native <i>Aedes triseriatus </i>(Say) in treeholes but could do so in artificial container habitats. <i>Ae. albopictus</i> remains rare in temperate treeholes but less is known about how <i>Ae. albopictus</i> fares in artificial containers in forests. Tyson Research Center (TRC) is a field station composed of mostly oak-hickory forest located outside Saint Louis, MO. The container community has been studied regularly at TRC since 2007 with permanently established artificial containers on the property since 2013. <i>Ae. albopictus</i> was detected each year these communities were sampled; however, its abundance remains low and it fails to numerically dominate other species in these communities. We present data that show <i>Ae. albopictus</i> numbers have not increased in the last decade. We compare egg counts from 2007 and 2016 and combine larval sample data from 2012-2017.We present average larval densities and prevalence of <i>Ae. albopictus</i> and two competitors, <i>Ae. triseriatus</i> and <i>Aedes japonicus </i>(Theobald) as well as monthly averages by year. These data highlight a circumstance in which <i>Ae. albopictus</i> fails to dominate the <i>Aedes</i> community despite it doing so in more human-impacted habitats. We present hypotheses for these patterns based upon abiotic and biotic environmental conditions.</p>