|
|
|
|
|
|
  How high do mosquitoes fly? That’s something the Collier Mosquito Control District would like to know. During the 2009 mosquito season, the CMCD hopes to study the altitude at which salt marsh mosquitoes fly during migration. The majority of the salt marsh mosquito population in Collier County migrates in from the Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands region. These mosquitoes, Aedes taeniorhynchus, can migrate over 40 miles with the prevailing winds' easterly breezes in order to find a blood meal. If the CMCD knew how high these mosquitoes flew during migration, then perhaps the District could provide even better mosquito control than what is currently available.
In order to determine the altitude of these migration flights, the CMCD needs to catch mosquitoes high in the sky. Hopefully, this can be accomplished using the District’s helicopters that will be equipped with "sticky paper" attached to special plates mounted under the fuselage. The helicopters will fly back and forth between the Marco Island Airport and the Everglades City airport at different heights. In between each trip, the helicopter will land and the sticky paper will be replaced. Later the paper will be inspected and the number of salt marsh mosquitoes will be counted and recorded for each height at which the helicopter flew.
|
|
|
|
|
