Mosquito movement patterns and the development of barrier trapping strategies for mosquito control

Establishing barriers of traps to protect people in specific areas from mosquitoes is of increasing interest. Developing these methods would allow protection in key sites while reducing reliance on pesticides. The salt marsh mosquito, Aedes taeniorhynchus, is a serious pest in coastal areas of Florida. We developed a model focused on mosquito movement and wind influences to identify the trapping strategy that best protected a target area in a public garden. One goal of the study was to determine if a simplified model could accurately predict which strategies would be most successful; therefore the landscape was relatively simple. Sensitivity analyses were used to assess the effect of mosquito movement, attractiveness of traps and wind on the efficacy of trapping strategies. The two most effective strategies were chosen for use in a field study using CDC light traps. Each chosen strategy and no traps were alternated weekly, with a sentinel trap and landing rates measured in the center of the area. The relative efficacy of the two trapping strategies was compared to the outcome of the model. The results of the model, field studies and the ability of the model to predict efficacy of trapping strategies will be discussed.