169 - Rainfall and the population dynamics of Aedes triseriatus in a forested area of southern Indiana.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
5:20pm – 5:30pm
Location: A1
Abstract: Aedes triseriatus (Say) is a medically important and common mosquito in the US Midwest. Here we present results of a season long study quantifying the response of Ae. triseriatus to weather changes. In this study we set two types of ovitraps (250 and 350 ml) in three transects at the Research and Teaching Preserve of Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. To investigate the role of rainfall regimes, in the first transect we paired the small ovitraps, in the second transect we paired the large ovitraps and in the third transect we paired a small and large ovitraps. In the transects with ovitraps of the same size we refilled water to a set volume each week in one of the ovitraps during the study, while water in the other ovitraps followed rain dynamics. From June 26 to October 2 2023 we collected a total of 918 4th instar larvae. Using a repeated measurements ANOVA we found no differences on the number of Ae. triseriatus larvae per ovitrap, as function of trap size (df= 39,F= 2.78590, P< 0.1031) and weekly water refilling (df=39, F=0.25204, P< 0.6185). The average number of larvae per ovitrap being (mean ± SD) 1.46 ± 2.80. We also analyzed the response of the time series to locally measured temperature, accumulated water and relative humidity which suggest this mosquito species is sensitive to temperature and rainfall changes.
