Date of Award

Summer 2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biological Sciences

Program/Concentration

Biology

Committee Director

Deborah A. Wailer

Committee Member

John R. Holsinger

Committee Member

Roland A. Cooper

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.B46 G75 2010

Abstract

While mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are among the most studied of insect groups, much remains unknown about their distribution and response to environmental impacts such as prescribed burns. Blackwater Ecological Preserve, located near Zuni, Virginia, is a relict long leaf pine barren, parts of which undergo periodic prescribed burns to maintain and restore this fire-dependent ecosystem. To assess the impact of prescribed burns on mosquito activity and to determine associations between seasonal patterns of adult mosquito activity and habitat type, CDC light traps baited with dry ice were set (rom late April through October at Blackwater Ecological Preserve during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. The results of this study suggest that fire does have an impact on patterns of adult mosquito activity and that, in most cases, distinct distribution patterns of association exist between seasonal adult mosquito activity and known larval habitat types as defined by functional groups. This study was one of the first to examine mosquito responses to fire disturbance, and the first to identify species distributions in burned and unburned habitats. The unexpected abundance of many of the permanent water species in the burned areas raises new questions about adult mosquito habitat use and emphasizes how much is yet to be learned about mosquito biology.

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DOI

10.25777/tzm8-3h14

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