GLOBE News
Monday Update – GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Photo Challenge: Keep it Up! Your Photos Are Making a Difference
The GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Photo Challenge kicked off on Sunday, 25 July, and by Friday, 13 August there were over 5,000 new photos of mosquito larvae, water habitats, and land cover! Your observations are making a big difference, and there are only 10 days left in the challenge (it runs through 25 August).
Read about how your photo contributions could make a difference in this blog post by the GLOBE Observer Land Cover science lead, Peder Nelson.
This challenge combines the use of GLOBE’s app, GLOBE Observer (GO), Mosquito Habitat Mapper (MHM) and Land Cover tools to document mosquito breeding habitats with photos. GLOBE would like you to take photos of mosquito habitats, in either natural or artificial containers (using the MHM tool) and photos of the land around the habitat location (using the Land Cover tool). Photos submitted during this challenge will be used to create automated classification programs that can identify mosquito larvae and the environments they prefer. Such computer programs can help prevent outbreaks of mosquito-borne disease.
Mosquito Fun Facts
There are around 3,500 species of mosquitoes and the GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper tool documents three medically important species Anopheles, Aedes, and Culex. It’s only the female mosquito who bites, males are perfectly content with plant nectar. Females need iron found in the blood for optimal egg development.
Prevention Tips!
What can you do to reduce the chance of mosquitoes after you’ve taken your Mosquito Habitat Mapper and Land Cover observation? Dump and clean any containers that may hold standing water at least twice a week – and take another observation. This includes vases, pet water bowls, old tires, plastic kiddie pools, rain gutters – look around for more spots for potential mosquito habitats.
Scientists Need Your Photos!
For more information on the challenge, click here.
News origin: GLOBE Implementation Office