Wood Frog Eggs and Mosquito Larvae
I headed over to the Chippewa River State Trail this afternoon, to take another look at the Wood Frog eggs I discovered12 days ago. The eggs have not hatched yet, but something else had - and there seemed to be millions of them wiggling in the water. Mosquito larvae!
The water in the ditch was alive with the tiny insects. Watching them, I found myself thinking about the animals famous for their relationship with mosquitoes: Gambusia affinis (a tiny freshwater fish celebrated for eating mosquito larvae), carp, minnows, killifish and dragonflies (adults and larvae).
No other animals make a dent in mosquito populations. Not bats, not Purple Martins, not frogs and toads, and not "mosquito hawks" (Crane Flies). In fact, according to the American Mosquito Control Association, "there is no documented study to show that bats, purple martins, or other predators consume enough adult mosquitoes to be effective control agents."
The water in the ditch was alive with the tiny insects. Watching them, I found myself thinking about the animals famous for their relationship with mosquitoes: Gambusia affinis (a tiny freshwater fish celebrated for eating mosquito larvae), carp, minnows, killifish and dragonflies (adults and larvae).
No other animals make a dent in mosquito populations. Not bats, not Purple Martins, not frogs and toads, and not "mosquito hawks" (Crane Flies). In fact, according to the American Mosquito Control Association, "there is no documented study to show that bats, purple martins, or other predators consume enough adult mosquitoes to be effective control agents."
No comments:
Post a Comment