GISN & STEM Professional's Blog - GLOBE International STEM Network
Open social media sharing options menu
GISN & STEM Professional's Blog
The GLOBE International STEM Network (GISN) and STEM Professional's Blog is an online collaborative effort where scientists associated with GLOBE post their thoughts, comments, and philosophies about a variety of science topics.
GLOBE strongly encourages positive and productive discussions to further advance the scientific understanding of all involved with The GLOBE Program.
Filter By:
Blogs List
Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the prevalence of each container’s exposure to sunlight in attracting more mosquitos. My intent was to measure the difference in the preferences of female mosquitoes to lay their eggs in locations with more or less shade.
Methods:
After some research, I was able to deduce that the most common mosquitoes in North Georgia (specifically near Johns Creek) are Aedes and Culex, with some Anopheles (since they are somewhat prevalent throughout North America). Since I was limited to what I had at home, I went on a search ...
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
Introduction:
In my trap experiment, I decided to test the attractiveness of different bait types to pregnant female mosquitos. I was interested to discover what conditions drew in mosquitos the most.
Experimental Design:
I constructed 4 mosquito traps using plastic tupperware containers and filled them each with about 400ml of tap water. I then introduced a different bait type into the water of each of the traps. The first trap contained fermented grass clippings (about two handfuls give or take). The second trap contained a cup of white sugar and two ...
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
Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the type of bait and the container size that attracts the greatest number of mosquitos. I hoped to understand whether the amount of water and the bait in the water made a difference in the oviposition of female mosquitos.
Setup:
I used 6 different buckets of 3 different sizes and filled them with two types of bait- initially sugar water and water with grass. I made sure to fill up the buckets of three different sizes almost all the way with the largest bucket containing 5 quarts, the second largest bucket containing 2 ...
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
My experiment aims to find the effects of saltwater concentration on mosquito breeding.
WEEK ONE- June 13-18, 2022
Hypothesis- Mosquitos are more likely to breed in water with the least amount of salt.
All the traps were set up in open Tupperware containers containing-
2.5 cups of tap water, 1 tablespoon of dog kibble, and either 0, 1, or 3 teaspoons of water, depending on which container. (I set up 2 control containers with no water in hopes to find mosquitos easier)
WEEK 2- June 19-25, 2022
By this point, no mosquito larvae or eggs have appeared, ...
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 located in Reno, Nevada. Reno’s climate is semiarid and Nevada is the driest state in the US. Additionally, Reno’s daily temperatures vary significantly: June’s average temperature high is 29 degrees celsius and its low is 10 degrees Celsius, similarly July’s average temperature high is 34 degrees and its low is 13 degrees celsius. In contrast, mosquitoes tend to breed best at around 29 degrees celsius and there are significant drop-offs in breeding as temperatures increase or decrease from 29 degrees. Furthermore, as a result of low vegetation in its semi-arid climate, Reno has very ...
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
Experiment 1:
For my first experiment, I tested the effects of water color on mosquito oviposition.
Materials:
- Three 1.25-liter bottles
- Three bottles of food coloring (yellow, green, and blue)
- Three rocks
- Three paint stirring sticks
- Nine dog treat pebbles
- Three cups of water
Experimental Design:
After reading articles such as "New Study Shows Mosquitoes are Attracted to Specific Colors," I decided to focus on setting water color as a variable in my experiment. I used three identical plastic 1.25-liter bottles to create the trap, cutting ...
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 decided to have two controls for my experiment: plain water and sugar water. Since I am testing how mosquitoes react to flowers; specifically, the number of eggs I collect, I wanted to get more variant data by having plain water and sugar water. After the first week of my experiment, I saw that many ants infested the sugar water (as anticipated), however, I found more mosquito larvae in the traps that had both sugar and flowers. This concluded that either the mosquitoes were attracted to the scent of the flowers or the appearance.
Living in New York City, there aren't many ...
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
For 4 weeks this summer, much like other Earth Explorer interns, I built a few mosquito traps and set them out near my home within my AOI. I’m located in sunny Plano, Texas, near a creek. To set up my traps, I first bought 4 large, 2 Liter soda bottles, drank a small bit, and emptied the rest out. I know we shouldn’t eat in the lab, but let’s just say the experiment started after the bottles were emptied. Then, I cut them in the middle and sanded the top halves near their mouths to make them a bit rougher. I got some net from a loofah and tied it to the mouths, then inverted the top so it ...
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
For my experiment, I decided to test the effect of sunlight and different colored traps on number of mosquito larvae.
I started my experiment by gathering six white buckets. I then painted two of them red and two of them blue. I also covered each bucket with a sealant.
After the buckets were prepared, I placed a white, red and blue bucket directly in the sunlight. The remaining three buckets were placed in the shade, under a tree. Then, I filled each bucket with 3 liters of water and 100 grams of weeds. A wooden stick was also placed in each bucket and used to stir the ...
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
Introduction
To follow along with NASA GLOBE’s mission to encourage public involvement in mosquito observation research, I decided to conduct a small experiment to determine preferred mosquito habitats. I’m writing this blog about my experience to encourage people to become citizen scientists as well and take part in the GLOBE Observer App’s mission [1]!
Hypothesis
Since mosquitos most commonly breed in swamps or marshes and are said to thrive in water that is fairly shallow, filled with organic matter, and nutrient-rich [2] [3], I hypothesize that mosquitos will be most ...
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
Introduction
California is home to 53 mosquito species, including many that serve as vectors for diseases like West Nile, Malaria, and Dengue. In my county of California, Santa Clara, mosquitoes from the genus Culex and Aedes are most common. For mosquitos to keep their population flourishing, female mosquitos lay eggs in stagnant containers of water. These eggs then go through the mosquito lifecycle to reach maturity and reproduce.
Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to determine how important stagnant water is to female mosquitos as they choose a location to lay ...
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
Purpose: My experiment aims to test whether:
1) Ovitraps or Safe Bottle Traps attract more mosquitoes
2) CO2 traps or CO2 under light at night attract more mosquitoes
Background:
Studies have shown that mosquitoes can detect carbon dioxide and may move towards the area with an increase in carbon dioxide. In fact, pregnant women are a feast for mosquitoes! This is due to an increase in body heat and more significant amounts of carbon dioxide. Additionally, during the day mosquitoes avoid light and prefer shady areas. However, without sunlight, mosquitoes ...
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
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 ...
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
In this experiment, I will be exploring how geoposition, type of bait, and container size influence female mosquitos’ choice of where to lay their eggs.
Experimental design
There will be a total of 5 traps. Three of the traps will be positioned at a location near my house. They will be separated by a reasonable distance in the same type of environment to minimize the experimental error caused by having multiple breeding habitats in close proximity. The other two traps will be positioned in various locations in my land cover area of interest. The exact locations will be ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
MOSQUITOES
Primary Audience:
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
—
20 Items per Page