Edmontonians can expect to see a big boom in the mosquito population as heavy rain continues to fall, attracting the pesky bugs.
Bug experts in the city say all this water is providing the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes — something residents haven’t seen too much of this year.
Most mosquito species lay their eggs in the vegetation above and around temporary bodies of water, like ditches, experts say. With all the rain, as water levels rise, the eggs become submerged and about a week later, those pesky adult mosquitoes are buzzing around, waiting to make a move.
City crews are treating temporary ‘water bodies’ from the rainfall with a biological control called BTI that specifically kills mosquito larvae and are monitoring a specific species of mosquito that hasn’t been seen before in this area.
Experts are also urging residents to get rid of any standing water that might build up — whether it’s in a bird bath, a kiddie pool or a blocked gutter — to try to reduce potential breeding locations.
Sarah McPike, senior biological science technologist said this new breed — called the northern house mosquito — is known to lay its eggs on top of water, rather than on surrounding vegetation.
“It is an aggressive human biter, and it is a known infector of West Nile virus, although we haven’t identified of it here, specifically,” she explained.
Cooler temperatures, like we have been seeing, will slow down hatching, McPike said. But with temperatures warming up, experts are anticipating more mosquitoes around town in a week or so.
Edmonton hasn’t seen the same amount of mosquitoes as it usually does this time of year due to the lack of snow melt off in the earlier spring, McPike said.
“With mosquito activity it always depends on the weather. What we’re seeing right now is a lot of larval hatch that we’re going to try to get out to treat, but, man — there’s a lot of standing water, which means there’s going to be a lot of hatch and with warmer temperatures, those will develop into mosquitoes.”
— with files from Sarah Ryan, Global News
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