Local professor laying out factors in fluctuating mosquito seasons
Posted Jun 25, 2018 08:58:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You don't have to be a bug expert to know we see cycles of high and low mosquito populations over the summer, but the experts are keeping their eyes on a few factors which affect whether or not Ottawans will be able to sit out on their porches for more than five minutes this season.
Assistant Professor at Carleton University's Biology Department Heath Macmillan told 1310 NEWS' The Rick Gibbons Show, ideal conditions for big mosquito populations are warm and wet. So if we get a repeating cycle of lots of rain followed warm temperatures, expect lots of buzzing.
“The number of generations they can get through in a summer depends on how suitable the environment is.”
MacMillan continues, “If we have warmer conditions and wetter conditions, they can actually get through a whole other life cycle. So eggs will turn into larvae, which turn into adults and then those adults can get another blood meal and go through another generation if the environment is suitable.
MacMillan said, if the conditions are not ideal, mosquitos go into a kind of insect version of hibernation and bunker down until those warm and wet conditions return.
Warmer winters mean more of those populations survive to the next.
MacMillan did not say whether or not the summer of 2018 is expected to be any worse than previous years, when it comes to the amount of mosquitos, but Environment Canada has said it's expected to be much hotter this season than it was in 2017.
Rainfall predictions are supposed to be about average.
The professor added that normal precautions should be standard to avoid mosquito bites — use lots of insect repellant that has deet in it, wear light clothing, and cover up as much as possible.
