Kawaikoi Mosquito Dissections 2016-2017

Mosquito-borne avian malaria is a key limiting factor on Hawaiian forest bird populations. Preservation of endemic forest birds and restoration of Hawaiian forest bird communities will rely on mosquito control. While landscape level control is being developed, managers need short term and reliable tools for monitoring and controlling mosquito populations to protect remaining breeding bird populations. As part of a larger study looking at the efficacy of the biopesticide VectoMax FG for control of larval Culex quinquefasciatus, USGS and DOFAW personnel monitored adult mosquitoes (Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes japonicus) along the Kawaikoi Stream during late summer, September through November 2016 and 2017. Ten trap sites were selected across a 1-kilometer grid centered on the intersection of the Alakai Swamp Trail and Kawaikoi Stream, Alakai Wilderness Preserve, Kauai. Traps were located at least 200 meters apart at accessible sites along the stream, valley floor, and adjacent plateau. Both Biogents Sentinel Traps (BGS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Gravid Traps (GR) were operated nightly at each site from 1600 to 0700 hr the following morning. Collected mosquitoes were maintained on a 3% sucrose solution and later dissected for malarial diagnostic. Midguts and salivary glands were examined under compound microscopy (450X) for evidence of infection. Oocyst presence and intensity and sporozoite presence and relative intensity were recorded. While the data does not directly support the project objectives it provides is useful measure of transmission risk at this time and place.