The Mosquitoes of Calgary: From Morphological References to Molecular Barcodes

Mosquitoes are a widespread nuisance that can also be responsible for the transmission of deadly diseases to people and animals, but different species of mosquitoes are responsible for the transmission of different diseases, and many species vary greatly in how they behave and where they are found. Identifying which mosquito species are found in an area is important for understanding mosquito distribution changes and evaluating the risk they may pose to humans and other animals. However, the process of identifying mosquitoes is time consuming and difficult, and many municipalities in Canada have limited specialist expertise for mosquito identification. Moreover, knowing which species are typically present in an area is essentially to determining if distributions are changing, yet in Canada, many mosquito distributions are decades out of date. To help address these limitations for the city of Calgary, we will determine which species of mosquitoes are found in Calgary now, then construct a comprehensive catalogue of molecular barcode information. Finally, we will test new DNA sequencing technologies to evaluate if they might be feasible at the municipal level for identifying mosquito samples in bulk.

Faculty Supervisor:

John Soghigian

Student:

Partner:

City of Calgary

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Public administration; Utilities

University:

University of Calgary

Program: