Community Blogs
Open social media sharing options menu
Community Blogs
Discover how the GLOBE community is engaging in all things GLOBE through the community blog posts below.
Learn how to create a GLOBE community blog post.
Filter By:
Blogs List
My experiment is testing the effect various types of bait have Mosquito Habitation. My research consists of three five gallon buckets, all filled with equal amounts of water and placed under shade. Each of my buckets has a different type of bait (dirt, leaves, and wood chips). Each week I take out any larvae I see and refill the traps to the 9 inch mark (to keep the water level constant each week). I do not refill the bait. Each week I take a sample of each trap, collecting all the larvae I can see and count the medium/large larvae.
Week 2: The trap with dirt had about 250 medium/large ...
Read More »
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
I set up four traps in my back yard each one has the exact same bait but each one is a different size. The bait that I used for my mosquito traps is dog chow that was fermented for a few days.
The first trap that I set up was a small plastic water bottle cut in half then I placed the bait, then the wooden stick but the first trap was a complete failure since my dog ate everything inside the plastic water bottle.
For the second trap I used a bigger water bottle this was half a gallon and I put it in a place where my dog could not get it but when I checked back on this trap ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
Firstly, my first week wasn't the most successful; I placed 2 buckets around my AOI, but wasn't able to get a third down. I walked in one business and asked if I could use the land in the back. They said they would give me a call when they could... never got that call through the week. I also called a church in my AOI and, again, they would call me back. No call. Lastly, I tried my elementary school since it was in my AOI, but I haven't gotten an email back (understandable as school was over). I tried to look at the bright side of things as I was able to get 2 buckets down. ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
I'm going to share my experiences conducting a mosquito trap experiment in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. Throughout the summer, I will have 4 mosquito traps set up in my backyard, each baited with different substances, but otherwise identical. The goal of this controlled experiment is to see what type of bait is most successful at attracting adult female mosquitoes to lay their eggs.
Week 1 of Mosquito Trap Experiment (Week of June 21):
I set up my mosquito traps around June 13, but unfortunately I had some issues right off the bat. We had some windy days here in Cleveland, ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
My mosquito trap experiment is testing the effects of different kinds of bait and locations on mosquitoes. I have set up three different traps in three different locations with three different kinds of bait.
Experiments and Hypotheses
Trap #1:
This trap is located in my backyard, which has an abundance of wasps. I know that wasps are not predators of mosquitoes, but I believe that the presence of the large wasps might disrupt the mosquitoes. The bait used in this trap was initially watermelon juice which was then switched out with sugar water. Both of these baits provide sugar, ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
Hypothesis: It is expected that most mosquito larvae will be present in alkaline water with the highest pH while the least mosquito larvae in the acidic water with low pH.
Setup: 5 identical buckets were placed in a shaded area in my backyard, several meters from each other. The independent variable in this case was the pH of the water as it varied from strongly acidic to strongly alkaline. The exact values of pH used were 1, 3, 7, 10 and 12. These were achieved by adding baking soda and lemon to 500ml of distilled water. The number of larvae were observed every 5 days after which ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
Setup/Procedure
In this experiment, I used four traps with four different baits as such: Concentrated Processed Sugar (Gatorade), Less Concentrated Processed Sugar (Refined Sugar Dissolved in Water), Concentrated Less Processed Sugar (Honey Dissolved in Water), Less Concentrated and Less Processed Sugar (Coconut Water). This was of course was alongside the control trap, consisting solely of tap water. I placed all five traps in the same area - underneath a tree.
And thus, I hypothesized that the trap with the concentrated and less processed sugars would attract the most ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
GENERAL SCIENCE
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
Introduction/Theory
For my mosquito experiment, I am testing how different kinds of bait affect the number of oviposition in my trap. Different mosquito species are attracted to different habitats, natural or artificial, some of which have been changing due to climate change. Mosquitoes are the most dangerous animal in the world because of their disease transmitting abilities, so understanding their oviposition instincts could be crucial in order to prevent further spreading of dangerous diseases such as the dengue virus, malaria, or the zika virus.
Variables ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
HYDROSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
Research Questions: My experiment ran two adjacent triads of mosquito traps aimed to explore two questions: whether the local mosquito species in my area prefer to oviposit in containers with greater surface areas of water, and whether the same mosquitoes would prefer to oviposit in particular containers with varying types of water "bait".
Data: After 5 weeks of running this experiment, I failed to capture even a single mosquito larva. I'll go into further depth as to why this might've been later on in the "Conclusion" section. Both experiments suffered from a ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
During my field study, I observed that I found more mosquito larvae in dirty ditches under an open sky. Based on my observations, for my mosquito traps, the specific variables I chose to control were centered around the quality of water and trap wall materials. I made 3 traps: A deep ceramic pot with mud, water, sticks, and dead and live plants, a cut water bottle with clear water and black electrical tape wrapped around it, and a shallow, wide plastic dish filled with water and dead vegetation but relatively little other particulates.
1. Pot trap with ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
HYDROSPHERE
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
I am currently testing the attractability of mosquitoes to black and white, with a control of transparent plastic. This could help us determine what clothes to dress in to avoid mosquito bites, and therefore the spread of disease, when going outside.
Materials:
Three 1 liter clear plastic containers
One 1 liter white plastic container
One 1 liter black plastic container
Five wooden sticks
Fish food
Hypothesis: Mosquitoes will hatch more larvae inside of a white conatiner than a Black container because the white stands out more in a natural environment.
I ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
Initial Setup
I decided to test how sunlight and container size would effect mosquito oviposition both in terms of how many larvae and what type of larvae are found in each container.
Testing For Sunlight
I found two locations in the same neighborhood with very different levels of sunlight.
My first location is a sunny and open back yard (with my cat):
My second location is a shady backyard near a golf course:
Testing For Container Size
At both locations I placed a 5 gallon home depot bucket and half of a plastic water bottle to compare the ...
Posted in:
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
After reading the article "Container Type Affects Mosquito Oviposition Choice," I was inspired to test how a container's surface area, an abiotic parameter, may affect female mosquito oviposition choice (Parker et al). At first, I was really curious about how the ratio of surface area to volume in a container affected oviposition choice. Thus, I began my experiment by finding containers with different surface areas but of similar volumes so I could control the volume of water in each container and more effectively isolate whether surface area affected oviposition choice. The first ...
Posted in:
Investigation Areas:
HYDROSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
Conclusion: Although no mosquitoes were found, this process has helped me understand the methodology of making an experiment and having to deal with hardships and setbacks. There were many potential sources of error both within the system of the experiment and with outside forces. Systematic errors could have stemmed from the trap design or location. The weather was a factor of random error. The weather varied across the duration of the experiment, sometimes drastically within a single week. The weather changes could have been counteracted with more frequent checking of the ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
HYDROSPHERE
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
I decided to test the impacts of fertilizer on mosquito breeding habitats.
Background:
I live in the Tampa Bay Area in Florida, and a major issue facing our ecosystems is fertilizer entering our waterways from runoff after people fertilize their lawns before it rains. This can lead to major algae blooms, like red tide, which are harmful to the rest of our marine organisms. Just last year, there was a particularly dangerous bloom that led to a fish kill where our waterways were littered with millions of dead fish.
However, the Tampa Bay Area contains more than just marine ...
Posted in:
Investigation Areas:
HYDROSPHERE
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
NYC is very hot and stuffy in the summer, but also has a lot of shade. A large part of this shade comes from large buildings, but most blocks have trees and there are some notable parks with a lot of tree cover as well. I get bitten all the time in the park when not in direct sunlight, but not so much when I'm downtown with the same level of shade.
I wondered if there was something to this natural shade (from trees) vs artificial shade (from buildings), or if the park in general was just more conducive to mosquito growth.
I also added cute little PLA 3D Printed frogs as ...
Posted in:
Investigation Areas:
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
Background: I live in a suburban area around 30 miles south of San Francisco in the West Bay, near the wetlands/the bay. Our county regularly treats the wetland trails for mosquitoes, and they also do aerial treatment, especially in the spring when mosquitoes like to breed.
Many previous literature papers concluded that mosquitoes prefer to oviposit in slightly alkaline water; as such, I predicted that there would be a higher abundance of mosquito larvae in the alkaline water.
To make an alkaline solution, I added baking soda to water; to make an acidic solution, I added aspirin ...
Posted in:
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
Selecting the right satellite images and products can be challenging! In this blog, I am sharing my learning and experience of working with satellite images for image classification and visualization.
The use of remote sensing satellite images to measure water qualities is a viable option to predict and control vector-borne diseases. Space agencies, such as NASA and ESA, provide open access to both acquired images and curated data/products for scientific research. Data is available both in the raw format as well as products (e.g. Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance, ...
Posted in:
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
I currently have four traps in operational order. Two at one of my AOIs and two in backyard that were prototypes that I've left up because they seem to be performing admirably. I My traps have been up for about a week, the prototypes were deployed a day before the other two, and I haven't seen any mosquitos or mosquito larvae. I did take care to note that I used dog food in my trap, specifically the dry kibble variant instead of ones that come in chunks or are wet. I choose dog food over decomposed plant-based organic material because I noticed that the few times I've accidentally ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
During the SEES internship, I got the opportunity to do data collection fieldwork. This required me to go around my neighborhood and take pictures of specific points that had been calculated using a Python notebook. Some of these points were in parts of my neighborhood that I’d never been to, despite being in my fourteenth year of living there. I even saw a pack of wild javelinas in a particularly remote spot! The task definitely took longer than I expected, but it felt good to know that I had contributed data that would actually help NASA scientists.
I also got to brainstorm my ...
Posted in:
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Student Research Reports:
INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM REPORT
MISSION MOSQUITO REPORT
—
20 Items per Page