Mosquitoes, West Nile Virus, Attractants, Competition, Environmental Conditions, and Insecticide Resistance

<p>The six main objectives of this project were: 1) test for levels of West Nile Virus in mosquitoes collected at a Fulton County Recreational Facility, 2) assay various mosquito oviposition attractants on West Nile virus positive female mosquitoes, 3) test effects of distance between mosquito infusion attractants, 4) determine effects of study site location, treatment, and competition distances on mosquito collections, 5) test for any correlation between environmental factors and mosquito abundance, and 6) measure levels of enzymatic insecticide resistance present in species of female mosquitoes that tested positive for the presence of West Nile Virus. Ofthe two species that were collected, only <em>Culex quinquefasciatus</em> females were found to contain West Nile Virus. Of the three oviposition media tested, fescue grass infusion was the most effective for capturing both <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> and <em>Aedes albopictus</em> females. The distance between the organic media attractants tested did not show any significant effect on attractancy of the media, when analyzed with the variation of location and treatment. A positive correlation was found between minimum air temperature, maximum air temperature, and average air temperature and mean mosquitoes collected A negative correlation was found between mean wind speed and mean mosquitoes collected. No correlation was found between mean dew point or mean precipitation and total mosquitoes collected. Assays of the enzymatic levels in <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> females showed good evidence for presence of the A2B2 amplicon and B1 complex, and thus revealed the presence of insecticide resistance in the sampled mosquito population.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis (open access)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Biology

Year dc:date.available

2003

Author dc:creator

• Wells, Alan Bradley

Contributors dc:contributor

• C. Ray Chandler
• William S. Irby
• Oscar J. Pung

• ETD
• West Nile virus
• Fulton County
• Georgia
• Attractants
• Environmental factors
• Insecticide resistance
• Culex quinquefasciatus
• Aedes albopictus
• Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
• Biology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd_legacy/430

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd_legacy-1559