Sampling & Surveillance

Good surveillance is the key to any successful mosquito control program. The gathering of accurate intelligence on mosquito population density helps us evaluate the effectiveness of our control techniques. Inspections are conducted to determine population, species, habitat, and rainfall.

Adult Surveillance - is accomplished by sampling mosquito populations to determine species and abundance. Activity periods of mosquitoes differ by species, with some biting in the evening and other feeding at night or day.

• Landing Rate Count: Standing in different mosquito habitats, inspectors record the number of mosquitoes landing on them in one minute.
  
• Light Trap: The New Jersey Light Trap is a simple insect trap that uses incandescent light to attract mosquitoes. We currently employ 36 of these traps throughout the parish with most being placed in residential yards.
  
• CDC Trap: This trap is similar to a NJ trap but uses CO2 as bait. Mosquitoes follow CO2 vapors thinking they've found an easy bloodmeal.
  
• Hourly Trap: Mosquitoes are collected at timed intervals to monitor activity periods of different species. We then are able to adjust spray times as needed.

Larval Surveillance - is the sampling of mosquitoes in the aquatic stage of their life cycle. Some of the tools used are:

• Dipper: A white plastic drinking dipper on a rod is an easy way to collect mosquito larvae. The species, location and number collected are recorded.
  
• Bulb Syringe: A large syringe is used to suck water and larvae out of small places such as a tire, urn, flower pot etc..
  
• Ovitrap: An oviptrap is used to induce container-breeding species to lay their eggs in the trap.