Mosquito Control
Populations of mosquitoes are bothersome and sometimes a health hazard. They can ruin the enjoyment of outdoor activities on warm summers evenings, such as barbeques with family and friends, outdoor sports and even the simplest things like going for a walk or relaxing in the back garden.
The Importance of Mosquito Control
Mosquito control is important because in addition to being a nuisance, high populations of mosquitoes raise public health concerns in communities. In some parts of the world mosquitoes are responsible for spreading infectious diseases such as malaria, West Nile virus, encephalitis, dengue fever and yellow fever.
Integrated pest management programs are often employed in communities to manage whole populations of mosquitoes. Mosquito numbers are monitored in order to halt the growth of mosquito larvae and decrease the number of adult mosquitoes. There are mosquito control companies who offer a variety of services to home and landowners, businesses and governments.
Eliminate Standing Water to Control Mosquitoes
One of the simplest ways of controlling mosquito numbers is to eliminate areas of standing water, which is where mosquitoes go to lay their eggs. This includes emptying water (or changing the water frequently) from containers such as birdbaths, buckets, disused pools, gutters, and old tyres that may be laying around.
Basically anything that holds water is a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes, even puddles.
Larviciding to Kill Mosquito Larvae
Larvicides are insecticides used in the larval stage of mosquitoes. They are added to mosquito breeding habitats such as marshes, ponds, ditches, lakes and other areas of standing water. Methoprene is one such larvicide, which prevents mosquito pupae from turning into mosquitoes, therefore halting the process of the mosquito lifecycle and preventing new mosquitoes emerging.
It is best to carry out larviciding in the beginning of the mosquito season in order to reduce the numbers of mosquitoes that will hatch out.
Adulticiding to Control Adult Mosquitoes
Adulticides are pesticides, which contain active ingredients such as pyrethroids or pyrethrin, and these kill adult mosquitoes. Adulticides can be sprayed from the air or on the ground around outdoor residential areas and recreational sites such as parks, golf courses and other public areas to give protection against nuisance mosquitoes.
Biological Control of Mosquitoes
Another method of mosquito control is biological control. This involves the use of natural predators of mosquitoes to try and keep their numbers down. For example, mosquito fish feed on mosquito larvae and pupae, but there is much debate over how effective their introduction as a mosquito control measure has been.