Abstract
Invasive and medically important arthropods continue to spread and establish
worldwide whilst adversely impacting ecosystems and public health. As the
eradication and population suppression of these invaders and pests can be highly
problematic and frequently unsuccessful, prevention of their further spread and
establishment is imperative. Currently, however, there remains a lack of efficacious
and cost-effective spread prevention techniques; particularly for species with
complex life histories that span both aquatic and terrestrial habitats, such as
mosquitoes. Here, we examine the use of steam exposure and disinfectant (Virkon®
Aquatic) treatments to cause mortality of juvenile life stages of two invasive
disease vector mosquitoes, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus. Steam
treatments induced total mortality of A. albopictus and C. quinquefasciatus egg
stages, following thirty second and five second exposures, respectively. Hatchability
of A. albopictus eggs was substantially reduced following ten seconds of steam
exposure. Total A. albopictus larval mortality was caused by steam exposures of
one second or longer. Conversely, the aquatic disinfectant failed to impede
hatchability of A. albopictus or C. quinquefasciatus egg stages. However, disinfection
with Virkon® Aquatic caused up to total mortality of mosquito larvae at exposure
durations exceeding one minute at 4% concentrations, and five minutes at 1%
concentrations. Our results suggest that steam treatments could be implemented as
a biosecurity technique to prevent spread and establishment of invasive mosquitoes.
Whilst the efficacy of chemical disinfections to cause mortality was not apparent
towards mosquito eggs, applications could achieve significant mortality towards
larvae in aquatic environments.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 9–25 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Management of Biological Invasions |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 14 Sept 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2020 |
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Dive into the research topics of 'In for the kill: novel biosecurity approaches for invasive and medically important mosquito species'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Student theses
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Aquatic invasive alien species : identification, distribution, impact, control & biosecurity
Crane, K. (Author), Dick, J. T. A. (Supervisor), Reid, N. (Supervisor), Kregting, L. (Supervisor), Ricciardi, A. (Supervisor) & MacIsaac, H. J. (Supervisor), Jul 2019Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy
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