Influence of Climate on Mosquito Abundance

Abstract

During this project one of the most common outdoors pest was observed, the mosquito. They are important to pay attention to due to their ability to transmit diseases and the irritation they are for humans. This project studied the effect of climate factors on mosquito abundance, which will help to predict when mosquitoes will be the most prevalent. Mosquitoes were collected using CDC gravid traps and light traps, which focused on different parts of the female mosquito life cycle. Mosquitoes were collected at 20 different locations in Richmond County, GA between February 2014 and December 2015. This study compared the impacts of different climate factors, such as precipitation amount, humidity, wind speed, and average temperature on the abundance and periodicity of two different species of mosquitoes, Culex quinquefasciatas and Culex salinarius. We found that temperature was positively correlated with the abundance of these species. Additionally, abundance of these species decreased significantly both above and below certain high and low temperature thresholds. This data will help to better predict when mosquitoes will be the most prevalent, which could help control the mosquito population better. Funding Source: Phinizy Center for Water Sciences