“Although the wild population did plummet for a short while, 18 months later it was right back up again. “
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F’n geniuses! >:(
This was a predictable effect.
You release a genetic weakness into the population, and that so-called weakness does not eliminate 100% of the effected population, then what you have effectively done is caused the entire population to overcome that weakness. Not by some effort of will or deliberate intent, but by merely surviving it. Those who survive the added genetic weakness are those whose genes were best suited to utilize the changes.
Oh, and then there are the side effect, otherwise known as “unintended consequences”
It could be more complicated. My first thought was “hybrid vigor”. Genes can be multifunctional. There are cases where a gene will activate function X in the body, but under a different condition, that same gene will turn off function X. Now, that is not a case of hybrid vigor. But the suggestion of a “stronger” population says the “weak” genes may have done something similar. My question is whether or not they really injected the same species of mosquito into that area in Brazil. Gotta read the paper.