New Brunswickers trap mosquitoes all summer for scientific study

It's not often that you kill a mosquito with perfection without squishing it or making it lose a wing or a leg.

This summer, some New Brunswickers displayed their talent for smacking the tiny pest just hard enough to make it faint, with some even catching them alive using a small bottle. 

This was not just a fun summer pastime. 

It's all part of a study on mosquitoes led by a group of researchers from Acadia University.

They asked people who visited Riverview's Mill Creek Nature Park and the Kouchibouguac National Park to help them gather mosquitoes as part of their project looking at the effects of climate change on the mosquito population. 

Empty vials were provided at stations at both locations. 

Once a mosquito was successfully caught, participants were asked to put it into the vial and drop it off at the same station. 

The activity is one of the three methods that Acadia University students are using to research and develop a mosquito surveillance network, said Laura Ferguson, professor of biology. 

She said the research will help update the historical data, learn how climate change is affecting mosquitoes and find new invasive species across the Maritimes.

"We have about 40 species in the Maritimes and we have enjoyed a very sort of low risk of mosquito-borne disease here for a long time," she said. 

"But as things start to warm up, we're expecting some changes in our mosquito populations. And so what we really want to do is be proactive and keep an eye on things, and detect any changes before they start to hit us hard."

The community engagement stations were only set up at the two New Brunswick locations in June and July, but collections began in Nova Scotia in May 2021, she said.

The group used stick apparatus called dippers to scoop out mosquito larvae from water, and light traps containing carbon dioxide were used to bait adult mosquitoes in Nova Scotia, said Ferguson.

She said the group later expanded their collection area to New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and all are coming to a conclusion this fall.