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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...