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Video Q&A ViewAttendees 6

Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Grad MUVE: Ecology, Vector Surveillance, and Other On-Demand Presentations

Contributions of Culex pipiens diapause incidence to West Nile virus seasonality

On-Demand
Student Competition On-Demand

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Eleanor N. Field

    Graduate Assistant
    Iowa State University
    Ames, Iowa

    • Co-Author(s)

  • RS

    Ryan Smith

    Iowa State University
    Ames, Iowa

  • JS

    John Shepard

    Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
    New Haven, Connecticut

  • KJ

    Kirk Johnson

    Metropolitan Mosquito Control District
    Saint Paul, Minnesota

  • MC

    Mark Clifton

    Director
    North Shore Mosquito Abatement District
    Northfield, Illinois

  • KP

    Keith Price

    Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
    Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

  • CB

    Christopher Barker

    University of California
    Davis, California

  • GE

    Greg Ebel

    Colorado State University
    Fort Collins, Colorado

  • PA

    Philip Armstrong

    Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
    New Haven, Connecticut

West Nile virus (WNV) is the most important mosquito-borne disease in the United States. Transmission patterns display clear seasonality, where human cases and Culex vector infection rates rise over the summer, peak in late August, and rapidly decline by October. Although WNV has been endemic to the United States for over 20 years, the dynamics behind these consistent epidemiological patterns are not well understood. It has been previously shown that low temperatures and short-day lengths drive Culex pipiens into diapause, yet the ecologically-relevant timeline has not been well studied nor has its relavance to West Nile virus trends. Herein, we evaluate the seasonal conditions for diapause and confirm diapause induction in Culex pipiens in laboratory and semi-field studies. We find that induction occurs in a subset of mosquitoes hatched from early September, with increasing rates as the season progresses. To examine trends on a larger scale, Cx. pipiens abundance data from temperate regions across the United States (California, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut) demonstrate notable reductions in gravid populations during the late summer into autumn, supporting that there is a national window for diapause induction. Moreover, understanding Culex diapause ecology can direct mosquito control interventions, thereby reducing overwintering Culex populations with potential public health benefit while also removing unnecessary pesticide use.