Grad student’s mosquito trap shows promise

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March 27, 2015

Casey Parker

Casey Parker pours liquid into a container to trap mosquitoes. PHOTO: Amy L. Stuart, UF/IFAS

As first reported by the University of Florida’s IFAS News, graduate entomology student Casey Parker recently won $2,000 in the ONE WORLD competition, organized by the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Challenge 2050 Project in conjunction with the Syngenta Good Growth Plan.

Created with assistance of her UF faculty advisors, Parker’s project is a trap to reduce the population of Asian Tiger and Yellow Fever mosquitoes. The trap features a rough, ridged interior surface, to entice the mosquitoes to lay their eggs on it.

For their experiment, Parker and her fellow researchers applied sprayed an adulticide and an insect growth regulator (IGR) along the walls of the container. They then put water in the trap to attract the mosquitoes.

The researchers monitored adult mosquito mortality by recording the dead ones inside and outside of the trap. About 98 percent of the adult mosquitoes died within two to three days. Thus far, the experiment led by Parker, which she’s using for her master’s thesis, shows 83 percent reduction in the mosquito egg population in lab studies.

After earning a master’s degree, Parker says she wants to attain a doctorate in entomology, with a goal of working in research and development, perhaps for the World Health Organization or another government entity.

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