Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
2009
Department
Oceanography
Abstract
Open marsh water management (OMWM) is a commonly used approach to manage salt marsh mosquitoes than can obviate the need for pesticide application and at the same time, partially restore natural functions of grid-ditched marshes. OMWM includes a variety of hydrologic manipulations, often tailored to the specific conditions on individual marshes, so the overall effectiveness of this approach is difficult to assess. Here, we report the results of controlled field trials to assess the effects of two approaches to OMWM on larval mosquito production at National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). A traditional OMWM approach, using pond construction and radial ditches was used at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in New Jersey, and a ditch-plugging approach was used at Parker River NWR in Massachusetts. Mosquito larvae were sampled from randomly placed stations on paired treatment and control marshes at each refuge. The proportion of sampling stations that were wet declined after OMWM at the Forsythe site, but not at the Parker River site. The proportion of samples with larvae present and mean larval densities, declined significantly at the treatment sites on both refuges relative to the control marshes. Percentage of control for the 2 yr posttreatment, compared with the 2 yr pretreatment, was >90% at both treatment sites.
Citation/Publisher Attribution
James-Pirri, M.-J., Ginsberg, H. S., Erwin, R. M., & Taylor, J. (2009). Effects of Open Marsh Water Management on Numbers of Larval Salt Marsh Mosquitoes. Journal of Medical Entomology, 46(6), 1392-1399. doi: 10.1603/033.046.0620
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1603/033.046.0620
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License