HOW TO Help Your Community Create an Effective Mosquito Management Plan Help Your Community Create an Effective MosquitoA Management Xerces Plan Society GuideI Simple signs placed in a community can go a long way toward informing local residents of the steps they can take to protect themselves from mosquitoes. Personal protective measures are a key part of effective mosquito management. (Photograph: iStockphoto/sebastianiov.) Acknowledgements Written by Scott Hoffman Black, Aimee Code, and Celeste Mazzacano Editing and layout by Margo Conner Funding for this report was provided by the Bullitt Foundation, the Burning Foundation, and Cornell Douglas Foundation. Our thanks go to the photographers for allowing us to use their photos. Copyright of all photos remains with the photographers. Front Cover Photographs: Oaks Bottom wildlife refuge, Celeste Mazzacano/The Xerces Society Twelve-spotted skimmer, Bryan E. Reynolds/www.bryanreynoldsphoto.com Red-winged blackbird, Serjio74/iStockphoto.com © 2014 by The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation Introduction Insecticides are the default method for mosquito control across millions of acres of wetlands in the United States, with millions of pounds of pesticides applied each year. Their use is often reactive, ineffective, and harmful to water quality and wildlife. Mosquito control uses products that kill the adult (adulticides) or immature (larvicides and pupacides) form of the insect. The most commonly used adulticides are organophosphates and pyrethroids, which have broad-spectrum toxicity and severely impact nontarget invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and birds. These adulticides have been implicated in declines in wetland-associated and terrestrial wildlife, including endangered species that live near treated areas. Even less-toxic products used to control immature mosquitoes can have a negative impact on the wetland community by disrupting local food webs when they are applied repeatedly. Protecting our remaining wetlands is critical. Nearly half of U.S. states have lost over 50% of their wetlands, and several have lost more than 80%. It is increasingly important to develop wetland management techniques that sustain the integrity and biodiversity of these vulnerable ecosystems while simultaneously providing effective management of an insect with serious public health and nuisance impacts. What You’ll Learn From This Guide This guide is designed to help people learn about safe and effective mosquito management. It outlines ways to advocate for management that protects people and wildlife from both the risks posed by mosquitoes and the pesticides used to control them. The guide describes the basic components of an ecologically sound mosquito management plan, and helps you find out how your community is managing mosquitoes and how to work toward more effective and sustainable practices. Detailed information on managing mosquitoes can be found in the Xerces Society’s detailed report, Ecologically Sound Mosquito Management in Wetlands. An Overview of Mosquito Control Practices, the Risks, Benefits, and Nontarget Impacts, and Recommendations on Effective Practices that Control Mosquitoes, Reduce Pesticide Use, and Protect Wetlands. This can be downloaded from http://www.xerces. org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/MosMan_Mar13_XercesSociety.pdf. Help Your Community Create an Effective Mosquito Management Plan 1 Understanding Mosquitoes Knowing the mosquito species present in your area and understanding their breeding, dispersal, and disease-transmitting habits is an essential first step in assessing the risk of mosquito-borne disease and creating an effective and sustainable management plan. Sadly, municipalities and land managers often respond to complaints about mos- quito bites with repeated, widespread applications of broad-spectrum pesticides that do little to control the real source of the mosquito problem. These pesticides, designed to kill a wide range of insects, also have negative impacts on people, as well as non- target organisms such as bees, butterflies, and other wildlife. Pesticides may be one component of a mosquito management plan, but pesticide use alone is reactionary, ineffective, and harmful to the environment, water quality, and wildlife. Fortunately, there are many examples of how mosquito populations can be managed effectively using a multi-pronged approach called Integrated Pest Management (IPM), also known as Integrated Mosquito Management or Integrated Vector Management. For more information on IPM for mosquitoes, go to www.xerces.org/pesticides. Larvae of many species of mosquito, including those in the genus Culex, use a siphon tube to breathe at the surface of the water. (Photograph: Wikimedia Commons; James Gathany, CDC.) 2 A Xerces Society Guide Elements of an Effective and Ecologically Sound Mosquito Management Plan Mosquito IPM plans combine cultural, physical, and least-toxic biological and chemical control strategies. Control measures are enacted only after regular surveillance deter- mines that mosquito numbers have risen to a point where public health is likely to be compromised. Natural systems are preserved as undisturbed as possible to protect biodiversity and to sustain populations of natural enemies that help control mosquitoes. Eradication of mosquitoes is not the goal of IPM as it is not possible, desirable, or necessary. When a community implements a mosquito IPM approach, management plans are in place before mosquito eggs hatch. Potential breeding sites are monitored regularly to know if and when mosquitoes are present, and to determine abundance and species; this also reveals if any disease-vectoring species are in the area. Action may be taken to eliminate or minimize areas where mosquitoes breed. Public education will be on- going, and will address the risk of disease, nuisance biting, how to reduce exposure to mosquitoes, and how to remove mosquito breeding sites in and around the home. If pesticides are part of the control program, their use will be site-specific, targeted, and timely, using the least-toxic materials possible. Each of these IPM components is described in detail in the following pages. Monitoring 1 Monitoring consists of documenting and tracking mosquito populations by collect- ing, counting, and identifying mosquito larvae and adults in an area. It allows the community to • Find the microhabitats (i.e., “hotspots”) where mosquitoes are breeding. • Identify which mosquito species are present. • Determine if vector mosquitoes and disease organisms are present (see below). • Determine when, and if, mosquito levels are high enough to warrant intervention. • Decide if pesticide use is needed. • Establish when and where to treat. • Track mosquito numbers to understand seasonal changes. • Investigate local communities of natural enemies that prey on mosquitoes. • Evaluate the efficacy of management techniques. It is also possible to create maps that combine this monitoring data with related factors such as rainfall, temperature, topography, vegetation, and hydrology. Such maps help in prioritizing control efforts, understanding long-term trends in mosquito populations, and evaluating the success of management practices. Disease Surveillance 2 Public health agencies play an ongoing role in surveillance of mosquito-borne diseases. Where vector species are present, public health departments and/or partner vector control agencies or academic entomology departments collect and Help Your Community Create an Effective Mosquito Management Plan 3 analyze adult female mosquitoes to determine whether they are carrying any disease pathogens. Blood samples from sentinel birds and livestock are also analyzed to assess the presence of disease in a community. Hospital and veterinarian admissions are monitored, and patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of a mosquito- borne disease are examined more closely. In this way, the risk of mosquito-borne diseases can be determined, and the presence of a disease-causing agent in a community is detected before vector abundance and infection rates have risen to levels where an outbreak occurs. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MOSQUITO MANAGEMENT The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stress the importance and efficacy of sanitation and site management to reduce mosquito larval abun- dance, and recommend effective public education about residential source re- duction and personal protective measures. The CDC state that “although IPM may include the use of pesticides, the primary components of IPM clearly sep- arate it from typical pest control practices that rely exclusively on trapping and poisoning.” Source Reduction 3 When places with significant numbers of breeding mosquitoes have been identified, efforts can be made to eliminate, modify, or better manage those spots, a process known as source reduction. Source reduction efforts differ according to the community you live in and the types of mosquitoes and habitats found there. For example, many Culex mosquitoes breed in containers of stagnant water, and significant source reduction is accomplished when homeowners clean out neglected wading pools, bird baths, dog bowls, gutters, and plant pots. Source reduction efforts may include: • Public education campaigns to inform local residents about where mosqui- toes breed and how to eliminate these sites around the home and yard. To be effective, such campaigns must target those residents most at risk from mos- quito-borne disease, and be made available in multiple languages and formats (see