As
children growing up, warm summer nights are meant for getting out and having
fun. It may have been "Hide and Go Seek" in the dark, looking for frogs,
camping, or any of a host of other possibilities, but the nights were warm and
the clothing of the evening ought to be shorts and T-shirts. Another creature
that appreciates nice warm summer nights isn't exactly welcome, and I often
wondered just why it was that these things had to be there to spoil the fun of
otherwise perfect conditions. These creatures are, of course, MOSQUITOES.
As a biologist and entomologist I am filled with the notion that there is a
place and a purpose for all living things on the Earth, and generally, once you
understand the behavior and life cycles of bugs, you realize exactly how it is
that they fit in. But mosquitoes? That's been a tough one for me. Someone
suggested that the value of mosquitoes is that of being an abundant food source
for other animals. Well, I have no problem with that, but why couldn't that food
supply be one that doesn't need to suck my blood? In the grand scheme of things,
I suppose, an insect like the mosquito, which is capable of spreading numerous
diseases to warm blooded animals, serves the role of reducing populations of
those animals, thus maintaining those animals in manageable numbers in the
environment.
This
may be a fine thing for Mother Nature to have in her arsenal, but as humans we
do not want to put up with the threat of sickness and death from vector-borne
diseases, and of all the vectors in the world the mosquitoes reign as the
supreme rulers. They carry such well known diseases as Malaria, Yellow Fever,
and Encephalitis, and others that we may not be as familiar with, such as
Filariasis and Dengue. These have been extraordinarily important in human
history. Malaria, it has been hypothesized, may have killed
one half of all the humans who have ever existed on Earth,
and today still kills 2 to 3 million people each year. An outbreak of a new form
of encephalitis in 1999 - called West Nile Virus - killed nearly a dozen
citizens of New York.
So, what is it about mosquitoes that we need to understand, in order to
properly avoid the problems they can cause and to combat their presence?
The Basics of Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes
are flies. They are in the same large group of insects as are houseflies and
fruit flies, called the Order Diptera. Within this Order the Mosquitoes
occupy a family grouping called Culicidae, and all the members of the
family of mosquitoes feed on other animals. By a great percentage the vast
majority of species of mosquitoes in the world feed on the blood of animals,
usually birds or mammals. However, there are a few species that are nectar
feeders, and in fact it is only the female mosquitoes that suck our blood. The
males are polite enough to take their eating habits to plants, where they feed
on plant fluids such as nectar. There also are a few species whose larvae eat
other mosquito larvae. There are around 170 different varieties of mosquitoes in
just North America.
Mosquitoes
undergo a life cycle called a "complete" life cycle. This means that the female
lays eggs, the eggs hatch to larvae, the larvae grow and then turn into the
pupae (like a cocoon in moths), and the adult mosquito subsequently hatches from
the pupa to fly off and do its daily chores. The larva of any species of
mosquito is an aquatic organism, and it must spend its time as the larva in
water, where it actually serves some benefit by eating other tiny organisms in
the water as a scavenger. So, female mosquitoes search for water sources in
order to lay their eggs, and they can be pretty ingenious about it. The water
may be large, visible sources, such as canals and swamps, or rainwater
collections in ditches alongside the road. Or, it may be small sources of water
that are more likely to be found in your backyard, and these are the ones you
can control.
Here is a sampling of some possible sources of
"standing" water that could be on your property, allowing thousands of
mosquitoes to develop near your home:
Pet water dishes and buckets that aren't emptied and refilled regularly
Plastic pool covers that hold rainwater
Catch pans under outdoor potted plants
Fish ponds in the backyard
Cesspools and septic tanks that are not properly screened or blocked
Crawl spaces under the home that have standing rainwater puddles
Boats with water in their bottoms or on plastic boat covers
Cans, jars, barrels, tubs, old buckets - any containers in the yard that
collect rainwater
Old tires - one of the worst sources of breeding mosquitoes
Tree holes - another of the worst sources of water to deal with, and the
likely breeding site of several important mosquito species
Or call for free quote
503
289-0576 360 695-2847
As
children growing up, warm summer nights are meant for getting out and having
fun. It may have been "Hide and Go Seek" in the dark, looking for frogs,
camping, or any of a host of other possibilities, but the nights were warm and
the clothing of the evening ought to be shorts and T-shirts. Another creature
that appreciates nice warm summer nights isn't exactly welcome, and I often
wondered just why it was that these things had to be there to spoil the fun of
otherwise perfect conditions. These creatures are, of course, MOSQUITOES.
This
may be a fine thing for Mother Nature to have in her arsenal, but as humans we
do not want to put up with the threat of sickness and death from vector-borne
diseases, and of all the vectors in the world the mosquitoes reign as the
supreme rulers. They carry such well known diseases as Malaria, Yellow Fever,
and Encephalitis, and others that we may not be as familiar with, such as
Filariasis and Dengue. These have been extraordinarily important in human
history. Malaria, it has been hypothesized, may have killed
one half of all the humans who have ever existed on Earth,
and today still kills 2 to 3 million people each year. An outbreak of a new form
of encephalitis in 1999 - called West Nile Virus - killed nearly a dozen
citizens of New York. 
Mosquitoes
are flies. They are in the same large group of insects as are houseflies and
fruit flies, called the Order Diptera. Within this Order the Mosquitoes
occupy a family grouping called Culicidae, and all the members of the
family of mosquitoes feed on other animals. By a great percentage the vast
majority of species of mosquitoes in the world feed on the blood of animals,
usually birds or mammals. However, there are a few species that are nectar
feeders, and in fact it is only the female mosquitoes that suck our blood. The
males are polite enough to take their eating habits to plants, where they feed
on plant fluids such as nectar. There also are a few species whose larvae eat
other mosquito larvae. There are around 170 different varieties of mosquitoes in
just North America. 
Mosquitoes
undergo a life cycle called a "complete" life cycle. This means that the female
lays eggs, the eggs hatch to larvae, the larvae grow and then turn into the
pupae (like a cocoon in moths), and the adult mosquito subsequently hatches from
the pupa to fly off and do its daily chores. The larva of any species of
mosquito is an aquatic organism, and it must spend its time as the larva in
water, where it actually serves some benefit by eating other tiny organisms in
the water as a scavenger. So, female mosquitoes search for water sources in
order to lay their eggs, and they can be pretty ingenious about it. The water
may be large, visible sources, such as canals and swamps, or rainwater
collections in ditches alongside the road. Or, it may be small sources of water
that are more likely to be found in your backyard, and these are the ones you
can control. 