Mosquito control


Mosquito control manages the population of mosquitoes to reduce their damage to human health, economies, and enjoyment. Control strategies range from habitat modification and chemical insecticides to biological agents and mechanical traps. Rising global temperatures have expanded mosquito habitats and disease risks, prompting a greater focus on community-led education programs to play key roles in reducing breeding grounds and tracking mosquito populations.

Background

Mosquito-control operations are targeted to multiple problems:
  • Nuisance mosquitoes bother people around homes or in parks and recreational areas;
  • Economically important mosquitoes reduce real estate values, adversely affect tourism and related business interests, or negatively impact livestock or poultry production;
  • Public health is the focus when mosquitoes are vectors, or transmitters, of infectious disease.
  • Mosquito-borne diseases can threaten endangered species.
Disease organisms transmitted by mosquitoes include West Nile virus, Saint Louis encephalitis virus, Eastern equine encephalomyelitis virus, Everglades virus, Highlands J virus, La Crosse encephalitis virus in the United States; dengue fever, yellow fever, Ilhéus virus, malaria, Zika virus and filariasis in the American tropics; Rift Valley fever, Wuchereria bancrofti, Japanese encephalitis, chikungunya and filariasis in Africa and Asia; and Murray Valley encephalitis and Ross River fever in Australia. Vertical transmission from adult mosquitos to larvae is possible.
Depending on the situation, source reduction, biocontrol, larviciding, or adulticiding may be used to manage mosquito populations. These techniques are accomplished using habitat modification, pesticide, biological-control agents, and trapping. The advantage of non-toxic methods of control is they can be used in conservation areas.
Integrated pest management is the use of the most environmentally appropriate method or combination of methods to control pest populations. Typical mosquito-control programs using IPM first conduct surveys to determine the species composition, relative abundance, and seasonal distribution of adult and larval mosquitoes, and only then is a control strategy defined.
Mosquito control programs typically target multiple stages of the mosquito life cycle using a combination of approaches. One of the most important is source reduction, which removes standing water where mosquitoes lay eggs, such as buckets, tires, clogged gutters, and bird baths. Consistent source reduction lowers the number of larvae that can develop into adults and reduces the need for chemical treatments. When water cannot be eliminated, control efforts often shift to larvicides, which kill mosquitoes in their aquatic stages, and to adulticides, which reduce adult mosquito populations during periods of high nuisance or disease transmission. These methods are usually combined in an integrated framework that balances effectiveness with environmental and public health considerations.

Monitoring mosquito populations

Adult mosquito populations may be monitored by landing rate counts, mechanical traps, or by lidar technology. For landing rate counts, an inspector visits a set number of sites every day, counting the number of adult female mosquitoes that land on a part of the body, such as an arm or both legs, within a given time interval. Mechanical traps use a fan to blow adult mosquitoes into a collection bag that is taken back to the laboratory for analysis of catch. The mechanical traps use visual cues or chemical attractants that are normally given off by mosquito hosts to attract adult female mosquitoes. These cues are often used in combination. Entomology lidar detection has the possibility of showing the difference between male and female mosquitoes.
Monitoring larval mosquito populations involves collecting larvae from standing water with a dipper or a turkey baster. The habitat, approximate total number of larvae and pupae, and species are noted for each collection. An alternative method works by providing artificial breeding spots and collecting and counting the developing larvae at fixed intervals. Monitoring these mosquito populations is crucial to see what species are present, if mosquito numbers are rising or falling, and detecting any diseases they carry.
Mosquito Alert is a cooperative citizen science project, currently run as a non-profit and coordinated by four public research centers in Spain. The aim of the project is to study, monitor, and fight the spread of invasive mosquitos. The project provided the first detection of the Asian bush mosquito Aedes japonicus in Spain in 2018, providing the first report of a population of mosquitos that were located 1,300 km from their previously nearest known location in Europe.

Climate change and mosquito habitats

Climate change has enabled mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus to spread into new geographic regions, including temperate areas where they were previously unable to survive. Warmer temperatures accelerate mosquito development, shorten breeding cycles, and increase biting frequency, all of which enhance the potential for disease transmission. Shifts in rainfall patterns and the increased frequency of extreme weather events also create more stagnant water sources, which are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. These ecological changes have contributed to the emergence or resurgence of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya in parts of Europe and North America. In response, public health organizations have begun integrating climate-based data, remote sensing, and predictive modeling into their surveillance systems to monitor habitat suitability and guide early warning efforts for mosquito population surges.
Temperature, humidity, moisture, and rain are some of the weather conditions that affect the mosquito's behavior and activity. Understanding the relationship between climate variables and mosquito ecology is now considered a key component of proactive vector control strategies.

Mosquito control agencies & operations

Mosquito control agencies utilize an Integrated Mosquito Management framework that prioritizes chemical and biological interventions in order to reduce vector risk and control mosquito nuisance to local human, pet & livestock populations. Operations are the efforts to manage resources, personnel & funds to deliver effective IMM activity over the course of the Mosquito season while meeting public policy requirements.
Agencies responsible for mosquito control are often designated Mosquito Abatement Districts, Mosquito Control Districts, or Vector Control Agencies / Districts. Some are operated as independent, limited-purpose local government agencies, while others are operated as a public works service within a local government public works agency, often a city or county agency.
Mosquito control logistics vary depending on the scale and accessibility of the target habitat. Mosquito control is labor intensive, requiring staff to deploy larvicide pellets into remote standing water like catch basins and marshes, or adulticide fog into broad woodland or urban habitats. Depending on terrain, staff may employ specialized ground vehicles like ATV and GO-4. For large remote areas, Agencies may utilize helicopters which can cover more territory more efficiently, but are very expensive and require FAA permitting to operate. Modern agencies utilize Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or drones, to cover difficult or dangerous terrain like salt marshes or dense wetlands.
Inventory and asset management is another major concern for mosquito control. Agencies must maintain a large fleet of vehicles, moderate staff for deploying products, and significant inventory of pesticide product that has a seasonal lifecycle due to mosquito tolerance. The Agency Manager is responsible for assets, inventory, personnel, liability and research, while executing the Integrated Mosquito Management Plan.
Mosquito control depends on public health policy, since policy makers must weigh the risks of mosquito vectors and nuisance against the costs of abatement and potential environmental risk of applying pesticides. Typically Mosquito Control Agencies will be overseen by a public board of trustees who themselves are appointed by elected officials. Agency directors and staff often have degrees in Environmental Science or Microbiology.

Community-based habitat reduction

The following municipalities, territories, and countries have regulations concerning removal of standing water to prevent mosquito breeding:
A 2010 study in New Jersey evaluated how community participation can improve mosquito control through source reduction. AmeriCorps volunteers were trained to identify and explain mosquito breeding sites such as planters, rain barrels, and discarded containers. These peer educators visited over 750 homes, offering active, on-site education. Compared to control areas, the communities that received active outreach saw a 22.6% decrease in unmanaged container habitats. Additional events like tire disposal and trash can modification days encouraged long-term engagement. The study found that community-driven efforts led to measurable behavior change, particularly when residents had hands-on involvement.

AI-enabled mosquito surveillance

Recent research has explored the use of robotics and artificial intelligence to improve mosquito surveillance. The "Dragonfly" robot, developed in Singapore, uses a deep learning algorithm called YOLO V4 to detect and classify mosquitoes. It can identify Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex species from glue traps with an accuracy of up to 88% in offline tests and 82% in real-time field trials. The robot maps mosquito detections on a two-dimensional grid, helping researchers visualize population hotspots. This automated approach reduces the need for manual identification and supports faster response times in high-risk areas.