नवीनतम
Light pollution might extend mosquitoes' biting season: Study
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The discovery of a recent study that metropolitan light pollution may disturb the winter dormancy phase for mosquitos that transmit the West Nile virus could be considered both good and bad news. The good news is that the disease-carrying pests may not survive the winter if their plans to fatten up are foiled. The bad news is their dormancy period, known as diapause, may simply be delayed -- meaning they're biting humans and animals longer into the fall.
"We see the highest levels of West Nile virus transmission in the late summer and early fall in Ohio. If you have mosquitoes postponing or delaying diapause and continuing to be active longer in the year, that's at a time when the mosquitoes are most likely to be infected with West Nile virus and people could be at greatest risk of contracting it," said Megan Meuti, senior author of the study and an assistant professor of entomology at The Ohio State University. This study and earlier findings by Meuti and her colleagues are among the first to show that artificial light at night could have a significant impact on mosquito behavior - including effects that aren't necessarily predictable.
"We're finding that the same urban light at night can have very different effects under different seasonal contexts," she said. Meuti conducted the study with first author Matthew Wolkoff and Lydia Fyie, both PhD candidates in entomology at Ohio State. The research was published recently in the journal Insects.
