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Age, Geographical Region, Population Density, and its Influence on Mosquito Source-Reduction Practice

Student(s):Sylvie Wurmser, Coco Nate, Bill Lam, Amalia Nevarez, Imron Bouley, Hannah Clay, and Smriti Jasti
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Educator(s):Cassie Soeffing
Contributors:Dr. Rusty Low, scientist, IGES Peder Nelson, scientist, OSU Dr. Erika Podest, scientist, NASA JPL Dr. Becky Boger, scientist
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report, Mission Mosquito Report
Protocols:Mosquitoes
Presentation Video: View Video
Presentation Poster: View Document
Language(s):English
Date Submitted:02/17/2022
With a reduction in the nationwide usage of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), mosquito populations are beginning to rise in certain regions as mosquito breeding “hotspots” are steadily becoming more prominent. While DDT proved to be effective in reducing the population of disease-carrying vectors, it is no longer being used as a control due to its adverse effects on the environment (Thuy 2015). Source reduction, the removal of mosquito breeding sites, has been proven as an effective and safe way of reducing mosquito-borne diseases (Yohannes 2005). Despite this, the majority of the country has no knowledge of the practice. Stagnant water left unchecked may be home to hundreds of larvae in a volume as low as half a cubic meter. Allowing such breeding habitats to remain causes an uncontrolled number of mosquitoes to continue spreading vector-borne diseases. Due to this, we believe that educating the global population on mosquito breeding site source reduction would prove to be the most effective and safe method for mosquito control. Similar to citizen science, the actions of willing citizens who are aware of source reduction could help eliminate mosquito-borne diseases without the millions of dollars that are required for the distribution of dangerous mosquito-eliminating chemicals that the insects eventually develop a resistance to. In order to effectively educate communities on source reduction, we cross-examined the relationships between demographics, source-reduction practice, and other factors to allow for targeted educational efforts which would improve the effectiveness of educational efforts. We sent out a survey to 429 people from around the United States with the goal of identifying trends in demographics that would benefit the most from source-reduction education programs. Our team identified a lack of knowledge about source reduction within the US despite its clear benefits in eliminating mosquito-borne diseases.



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