Ecological profiling of bird-mosquito interactions in Central Virginia

• Main Author: Riggan, Anna
• Format: Others
• Published: VCU Scholars Compass 2011
• Subjects: mosquito; Nest Mosquito Trap; bird; West Nile virus; Environmental Sciences; Physical Sciences and Mathematics
• Online Access: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/2568; http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3567&context=etd

Current methods of mosquito surveillance estimate general population abundances, but fail to represent the relationship of vector abundance to host density important to determining transmission risk of mosquito-borne pathogens (MBP). We sought to address this limitation by creating a novel mosquito trap that directly sampled mosquitoes seeking to feed on nesting birds. The primary objectives of this study were to (1) assess the efficiency of the Nest Mosquito Trap (NMT) and how this is affected by nest box size. (2) assess whether the NMT affects bird, specifically nest success in Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea), and adult behavior. (3) compare our novel trap to existing methods. (4) profile the ecological parameters associated with bird/ mosquito interactions. Our results allow us to conclude that the NMT is not only an effective means of capturing host-seeking mosquitoes and measuring mosquito/ bird interactions, but does not have a deleterious effect on avian nesting success.