Plenty of rain means lots of mosquitoes
This summer is shaping up to be one of the wettest in recent years. The large amount of precipitation has kept the ground saturated, and seasonably low temperatures have delayed evaporation in most places which has created ideal habitat for mosquito production.
Now, as a wildlife lover and conservationist I’m supposed to tell you about the important roles mosquitoes play in various ecosystems worldwide, and they do! That being said, I’m also part of the human population that loves being outdoors and I, personally, wouldn’t miss any sleep if I never heard the whine of mosquito wings in my ear again.
While I hate mosquitoes as much as the next person, they do provide a valuable service on this planet. During their aquatic larval stage as protein-rich snacks for fish and macroinvertebrates, and as adults they are important pollinators for a host of plants.
Their value as a food source for bats and insectivorous birds however, has likely been exaggerated over the years. Claims that bats and purple martins eat 10,000 mosquitoes an hour were based on tests where mosquitoes were the only available food source in a confined space. Due to the massive amounts of energy bats and birds expend to stay aloft; dining on mosquitoes is akin to humans running a mile to eat a single pea when there are t-bone steaks (moths and other large insects) readily available and just as easy to catch. That might sound like a great diet for someone trying to lose weight, but in the animal kingdom that’s not the goal.
It is a fact that mosquitoes prefer to breed in stagnant pools of water, but it is important to remember not all water sources create mosquito problems. Wetlands and vernal pools are often blamed for high mosquito populations when, in reality, these ecologically diverse bodies of water often contain plenty of predators that consume mosquito larva before they can become adults.
The most common water sources that mosquitoes prefer are abandoned tires, plastic containers, and other discarded human litter that will hold water for short periods of time. Poorly graded lawns and road ditches with plugged culverts are also places water can pond for short periods of time during periods of frequent rain. These temporary stands of water lack any predatory creatures, and are perfect locations for the quickly maturing mosquito larva to develop without any competition.
Just last week, after a curtain of water during one of the storms informed me that my gutter was plugged, while I was removing debris from my downspout I was amazed to see how many mosquito larva were thriving in my little aluminum water trough. It is a place like this that many of us may not realize is perfect for the little vampires to colonize.
As you enjoy the rest of your summer, if mosquitoes start to eat you alive, remember it probably is not the neighbor’s pond or the wetland across the road that is the main source of the problem. Do a quick check around your own property for those small containers that may contain hundreds of little larva in just a few ounces of water.