Student Research Reports
Age, Geographical Region, Population Density, and its Influence on Mosquito Source-Reduction Practice
Country:United States of America
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:
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Presentation Poster:
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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.